Let's make a Dark Guild!
by DAve and Bob
Summary: After her body was Taken over Seilah ended up fragmented, her abilities and power split between a weakened state and the form that now belonged to Mirajane Strauss. She is forced to hide out in a town she encounters an odd boy that asks her a simple question. "Would you like to join my guild?" Original Guild Story filled with mostly previous villains. Takes place after the series
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Would you like to Join my Guild?

"Gosh, this sure does look like a place a demon messed up..." The small red-eyed teen looked up the distorted town drained of all life. Even the sky above was darkened and gray.

"Kukukuku, this is a curse of a demon alright... A small plant-like creature slowly crawled from under his shirt giggling.

The teen scratched his head. He had a striking feeling the moment he stepped foot in the town. Though then again if it wasn't a struggle all joy from doing so would have been removed. You looked up at the sign that had been scratched out before shrugging.

Just as he assumed the moment he felt a strange force...this was magic, or the version demons used a curse.

The boy was never big on magic. He mostly found it useless, as a monster his sheer physical strength was enough. His eyes quickly scanned the area noticing most of the shops and houses were empty.

The boy stuck his nose into the sky take whiff of the air. "Flrea...do you smell that?" The teen looked at the plant like creature that simply nodded.

"Yeah, it smells like corpses. Do you think the demon here killed everyone?" The plant creature asked as the boy looked around sniffing the air once again.

"I don't smell any blood, and I don't think they have been here for too long. They probably just dug up the graveyard or somet-" The teen instantly stopped looking at a nearby church. His eyes widened as he took a stepped towards the building.

"That soul is a demons...that is our target..."

"Thi-this isn't enough." The woman leaned down holding her chest. Books and corpses were surrounding her.

"That woman...this form..." She was breathing heavily. Her golden horns were stuck on her head as she rubbed her face. That woman thought she was saving her life, but forced her into such a sorry state.

The fact that her mind and a fragment of her body was able to escape preventing her from being completely inactive wasn't enough. Her curse was greatly weakened to the point where the only thing that it was usable with was the worst candidates.

She was more of a fragment than anything else. Even while recovering she would sooner or later have to confront the woman and take her 'soul' back.

"I-I would have rather died than end up like this...if Madam Kyôka would see me like this." Before the woman could despair any longer the door to the church was forced open as she quickly raised her head,

She doubted it was any of the villagers. They were all too terrified to even leave their homes...which meant.

"Gosh, are you the demon that took over this place?" A teen with a small creature hanging off his shoulders entered the building as she chuckled. She quickly scanned his body, while it was impossible to tell what guild he was from it was clear he was from one.

The woman smiled her dress swaying ever so slightly as she put up a front. In her current condition even if the boy in front of her was a mere B Ranked mage she wouldn't be able to defend herself properly.

Her curse wasn't even functioning against the living, and she knew activating her Etherious Form in her condition was a bad idea...so the best thing she could do was bluff.

"Oh my, what would a mage such as yourself want with me...you do realize stepping in here means certain death."

"Mage...huh..." The teens' eyes wandered to the side. The clothing he wore was rather plain, the only thing separating him from an average person was the off colors and his red eyes.

The woman eyes narrowed glaring at him as a shiver went down her spine.

He wasn't human...but he wasn't a demon either. Even in her current condition, she could sense that much.

The teen took a step as she lifted her hand the corpses struggling to follow her command.

"STOP! What are you?!"

The boy's eyes widened as both he and the monster on his shoulder chuckled.

"My name is Monster Hud!" He waved as she tried to keep her composure.

"Well, Monster, if you want to challenge a demon you are free to do so...but it won't end well for you."

She sat up, one hand being raised as the corpses prepared to do their master's bidding."

"That's fine. I want to fight you to see if you are worth the trouble." The boy set the plant creature onto the ground as he took another step forward

The held her breath. This was going to end in a fight regardless, the best she could do was hope for a distraction and escape from there.

Without waiting any longer the corpses staggered forward before sprinting into a run. Their limbs twisting about.

Almost casually the teen tore through them as if they had been cut by a knife. She hadn't noticed before, but his nails were far longer than what a human's should be.

As the corpses feel apart, the demon lifted her other hand as the books that had surrounded her lifted from the ground flinging themselves towards her opponent. If they were normal books, this would have been pointless, however...

"Really, books?" The teen raised his arm swiping away the leather and paper as something strange happened. "Huh?"

The pieces of ripped and torn paper started to glow as scattered explosions enveloped Hud's body.

The demon didn't take it as a victory however as she rushed to a nearby window to escape...only to notice something.

"W-what?" Her eye twitched noticing all the walls and windows completely covered in roses, vines, and thorns. They weren't thin either, rather thick, thicker than the walls of the church itself.

"Nope, nope ~" A small head bloomed from one of the roses, the plant-like creature sticking its tongue out. "A demon that runs away from a fight should be decapitated! Hud should at least have a bit of fun with you considering all the trouble he had getting here."

The demon winced, but before she could think of something she felt something similar to a sledgehammer hit the side of her body. She was flung into the nearby wall hitting the vines nearly impaling her to the wall.

She finally let out a cry of pain as her eyes focused on the teen that was causing it.

"I thought demons and magic were supposed to be worth something..." He then started to take a deep breath. His chest puffing to an unnaturally large as he let out a distorted shout.

There was no magic to be found in the attack. It was just the sheer physical force of his shout and lungs that blew her away even further finally snapping the vines and blowing her out of the church.

And so her body laid broken on the ground looking at the sky above. She could hear the sounds of footsteps slowly approaching her as well as voices.

"See Hud? Demon Curses? Human magic? It's all worthless compared to physical might. Just crush her head and be done with it!" The cackle of the plant demon echoed as a shadow stood over her.

"Is this really your limit?" from his voice, it was a genuine question she was asked as she held her breath.

It wasn't going to work. She was just a fragment...but it would have been miserable, disgusting, soul-crushing to end in such a way...it would have been sad if the demon known as Seilah died with her head crushed.

So, even if she was only a piece...even if she hadn't recovered...

"I order you..."

The teen just tilted his head as she finished her statement.

"Release your limiters!"

At that moment a large spike of energy pushed him back blue and red danced about as Hud eyes widened as a smile slowly crept on his face.

"Wah, wah, wah?! I thought she was almost dead for sure!" The plant creature quickly ran to safety.

Hud widened is stance as the flames slowly vanished. What was before he was something that could be called a demon.

Her skin was black, her eyes were glowing yellow, and she towered over even him. The image made shook him to his core, but even something like that...

"I wonder how long it will last!" Hud laughed as Seilah body twitched.

His words were the truth. She wasn't supposed to use that in her condition. She had to finish it in the next few seconds.

"Gah!" Nearly vanishing from the teen appearing above him. Her palm was open as a harsh blue light appeared in her palm.

"W-what?!" An explosion as heard as the teen was blown back through the church and onto the streets of the small town.

He slid into the dirt his body covered in scratches and dirt...however.

"Owowowow! She managed to close that power gap quick." Hud staggered to his feet as the church started to shake. With a scream, Seliah busted through the building finally causing it to collapse once again appearing her arms raised.

"I order you...tear my enemy to shreds!" her arms started to move at unnatural speeds. However too much of Seliah's surprise none of her hits landed.

Rather the strange teen's arms started to move to match each one of her blows quickly. It seemed the first hit was a fluke. The battle wasn't going to be as simple as she first thought and she was already running out of time.

"Guh!" She was kicked away by the monster as he dusted himself off noticing the scratches on his body. He once again lowed his stance as Seliah stopped herself. She HAD to kill him in the next exchange.

"I order you tear my enemy to SHREDS!" Once again they clashed them exchanging blows. Scars and craters slowly started to form around them as finally...

"There!" Seliah reeled back of leg kneeing her enemy in the stomach as he staggered back before taking both of her hands and slamming him away into a nearby house. Her wings then spread apart flapping as energy started to be stored into her palm once again. Demon Release was unusable, and this was her final attack.

With a single gust, she shot towards him. Hud still staggering to his feet, but for some reason, he didn't appear in a hurry as he just stared at the bullet of death came towards him.

"Die!" Her hand was outstretched as another explosion echoed through the town...however.

"You magic users sure are impressive but..."

Seliah eyes were twitching, her power had run out, and she had reverted to her more human-like state. Her hand was caught by her opponent he continued his statement.

"...this is your limit." Hud then casually took another deep breath as he let out a shout point blank towards the demon as she was blasted away sliding a few meters across the town.

All the energy in her body had been drained. She couldn't even move her body as she was in a familiar position once again. Her vision was fading, but she caught the last thing her enemy said to her.

"So...would you like to join my guild?" That was the last thing she heard as she finally slipped away into unconsciousness.

"Wow, she passed out..." Hud looked at his enemy as the small plant-like creature came running up to him.

"G-geez, I can't believe a magic user demon or not had that sheer physical power." The plant creature replied as Hud casually relocated his shoulder and cracked his neck.

"Yeah, what's worse is I don't think she was fighting to the best of her ability. She was clearly hesitant to use that and once she did it was probably weaker than expected..."

"So, what do you want to do Hud?"

"We should probably collect our reward form the townspeople and take her back with us," Hud replied as Flrea frowned.

"Are you sure? She seems dangerous."

"If she wasn't dangerous then she wouldn't be work bringing back."

"You have a point..." The small plant creature then wrapped vines around Seliah as Hud slung her body over his shoulder.

He had taken his first step in creating his 'guild'...

Seilah's body twitched as her eyes slowly started to open. Her limbs bound in harsh vines as she looked around what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse of some sort. It seemed that at the very least that she was still alive.

"Hey~ Hud, she woke up!" The plant-like creature rose from the wooden planks as the teen slowly stepped inside of the main room with a smile on his face.

"Good to see that you're awake. I thought you'd be out for a few more days..."

"Who hired you to capture me?" Seilah took a deep breath. That was really the only thing she could think of why the so-called monster in front of her didn't end her life.

"Geez, I never really wanted to kill you in the first place. I just wanted you to join my guild!" Hud sat down on the ground, mostly due to the fact that there was no furniture.

"You're guild..." there was a certain bitterness in her voice as she repeated that statement. Guilds weren't something she was interested in. While she was once apart Tartaros that was less a guild and more of a group.

The only attachments she had with Madam Kyôka, and that hadn't ended well.

"Yeah, I was looking for strong people for it, and you certainly fit that description. Plus you probably don't have anything better to do." Hud laughed as Seilah eyes narrowed.

"You're making quite the assumption," Seilah replied as Hud looked over to his plant friend nodding. At that moment the vines that were covering her body slowly sunk into the ground.

"It's your choice, but you want something too right? While I understand wanting to do something alone, you can't really use your full power right?"

"So you knew..." Seilah pressed her fingers to her lip as Hud nodded.

"Yeah. You're recovering from something right, so at the very least until you ful-"

"Stop..." Seilah cut him off as she smiled. "I will happily join your guild, but there is a one simple thing that I ask."

"What?" Hud replied bluntly as the woman chuckled.

"My current condition is due to a mage stealing my... 'body' in a certain sense. If I would to join this guild, you must help me get the rest of my power back."

Hud remained silent as the plant-like creature grumbled.

"I'm not sure Hud...she seems shady," Flrea replied.

"Alright, that's fine by me. I want to fight you while you are at your best anyway so I can agree with that." Hud stated as Seilah nodded.

"Then it is decided...I assume I am now a member of." Seilah stopped herself as Hud finished her statement.

"Demon Fang! The guild is called Demon Fang." Hud laughed, it probably wasn't the most amazing name, but it seemed to have worked.

"Well, what is your name anyway?" Hud smiled as the demon brushed her dress off.

"Seilah and yours is Monster isn't it?"

Hud tilted his head, the first half of his name was technically Monster. Though most people he spoke to simply used Hud. He didn't really mind and just took it as her being proper.

"Yep, Monster is good enough, so Seilah if you don't mind me asking. Do you happen to know any other demons or monster that would be willing to join a guild?"

Seilah closed her eyes. She doubted any demons actually managed to survive the destruction of the Cube. Still, it could have been worth looking around the ruins for something...that was what the logical part of the demon was telling herself.

Rather she simply wanted to know if there was a possibility that even a part of Kyôka. Even if it was only a piece, she might have been able to do something.

"There is a place where I wish to look into depending on our location. Regardless of if there is an actual demon there, I think you may find something helpful."

"Alright, but first we should beat that mage up and get your powers back." Hud sat up as Seilah expression soured completely. Her elegant look turned into one that could only be described as disgust.

"Don't bother, you'd be killed instantly if you go after that person...or rather their guild."

Hud eye twitched as Flrea laughed.

"As if, demon or mage, there is no one who would be able to stop Hud."

Hud stopped for a moment scratching his head. "Ah, so she is apart of another guild? It's not like I can do anything until you tell me who they are and where they are located."

Seilah simply glared at the monster as he sighed. That was all he needed to see to realize she wasn't going to tell him anything.

"Fine, but you want to get your power back right? You can't get it back by doing nothing..." Hud pointed out as Seilah covered her mouth.

"Do you think I do not know that. You said you wanted to make a guild correct? At this moment it is best that we try to bolster our numbers and then strike them. A weakened demon and two monsters wouldn't be able to touch them."

The plant creature was about to snap again as Hud chuckled.

"Fine Iguess that's fine. If these guys are as strong as you say then I can't help but be excited! So I can wait a bit longer, you said you want to expect the ruins of a place right? Where is it?"

Seilah closed her eyes. "Where are we right now?"

Hud looked over to Flrea who widened his mouth as he vomited out a map. Hud then picked it up checking it.

"We are in the location humans call...Midi."

That...was a problem. If she remembered her map correctly, then they were further way from the cube than she thought. After all, the Cube's previous location was at the edge of the Pergrande Kingdom. It wasn't a short walk from Midi to there. They would have to pass at least three kingdoms to get there.

"This isn't going to be a short trip, but I have a way to make it shorter if you are willing to wait."

Seilah's curse still wasn't strong enough to take over those with a will. However, if she was able to recover more she may be able to command animals allowing their trip to at least be easier.

"Fine by me, it's not like me and Flrea had any other leads." Hud finally got up as the small plant creature jumped on his shoulder. "We're going to go hunting...you can do your demon thing here."

Without much of a sendoff, Flrea and Hud left the building leaving the demon to herself.

Normally she would have called someone a fool leaving her in their base of operations, but honestly, there was nothing their 'base' to steal just an empty building.

Regardless this left her to her own devices. It seemed that some fortune had smiled upon her. It would have been extremely difficult for her to get her power back by herself, but with the help of a new guild, it would be possible.

Of course, they were completely disposable. And Monster most likely knew that too, he needed a guild member and she needed her powers back. There was nothing else to it besides that.

She was apart of the nine demon gates after all. She had to make show to completely crush and erase Fairy Tail for what they had done. Still, she couldn't help but be a bit curious about Monster.

Why would a monster want to create a guild? Of course, their guild was going to be a dark one. Even if they bothered trying to register, no guild that had monsters and demons in it would have passed.

In the end, it didn't really matter. A guild was just a different name for a group of like-minded individuals. Perhaps it was just easier to call it that rather than something else.

She got up realizing that there really wasn't much in the building at all. The gloomy nature was her style, but the lack of substance was a bit unsettling.

So she took a step outside noticing the sheer amount of vines and trees covering the area. Despite that, there wasn't a single insect flying around or doing anything of the sort.

The demon placed her hands on the nearby vines tugging on them. She would have to push past the bushes to see anything from the outside world.

There was no magic placed around the surrounding area, but the overgrown plants clearly weren't natural. She circled the building finding out why there were no insects despite the lush nature of the area.

Large Venus flytraps were moving ever so slightly twitching the moment they sensed movement. Their stems allowed them to move like heads attached to a string attacking anything that got close.

"Perhaps this is that plant creature doing..." Seilah recalled it blocking off her escape during her and Monster's battle. Still to do something like that without magic was impressive.

She made a mental note to ask the two about it when they got back.

After that she went back inside waiting for the two to return, once they did they entered the building dragging what seemed to have been a large bore with them. Luckily they had sense enough to skin it before they got in.

"Welp...that didn't take too long, come on we are eating outside." It seemed that Hud only came in there to tell her that.

By the time Seilah got outside the boar was already strung up, of course, they still lacked a fire to burn underneath it. That was until Flrea gathered a bunch of old branches and leaves placing it under the creature.

Hud then cracked his fingers as his hands nearly vanished smoke slowly starting to build up before the mile of wood ignited under the boar nearly engulfing it in flames.

"How did you do that?" Seilah asked as Hud and Flrea looked at one another.

"Hmm, well I move my hands fast enough to cause enough friction to create heat. If you are wondering I can't actually use something like that in a fight or anything." Hud laughed as Seilah eyes narrowed.

"You two, truly are incapable of using magic?"

"Yep!" Hud quickly replied. "Most monsters abilities come from how their bodies work. Like Flrea here can control plants, but that is because his body works with them. A lot of monsters can breathe fire or regenerate from attacks due to their bodies natural system."

He explained it in the most monumentally way possible, but Seilah started to understand. A bird, after all, didn't need to use magic to fly, just like fish didn't need to use magic to breathe underwater.

Still, for the creature in front of her to match her power even if weakened just on natural ability was...strange to say the least. It didn't help that she still didn't know what kind of creature Monster was.

"I should talk about how monsters rank each other in terms of strength. But there is really only four ranks worth talking about and as a demon you probably don't care about that sort of thing."

"Go ahead and tell her anyway Hud, show her how impressive we are."

"Well, I guess showing off a little bit wouldn't do any harm. You see, monsters are separated into four groups. Building destroyer, Town Destroyer, City Destroyer and Country Destroyer. There is one more rank, but that doesn't exist so let's ignore that!"

Hud pointed out before continuing. "Like the names tell you, they tell you the destructive power of the monster. Flrea here is a Town destroyer because he can destroy a town without any help. My rank is a City Destroyer since...well I can do the same."

The fact that monsters bothered having ranks was somewhat humorous to Seilah. Even creatures that adored their most primal instincts couldn't help but rank one another in their strength.

Regardless if she found a way to use Marco on them, then they could be useful yet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Start of an adventure.

"Gosh, Seilah said to meet us in this clearing with all our stuff. But she's not here yet." Hud sighed as he laid back in the grass, the small amount of things he and Flrea had was packed in a makeshift bag made of animal skin.

They honestly didn't have a lot, and they were mostly bringing a bag to see if they needed one more than anything.

"You think she stood us up and ran away?" Flrea asked as Hud shook his head.

"She would have left three days ago if that was the case...I think she has something else planned for us..." As if his words was calling a demon Seilah finally appeared from the brush a smile creeping onto her face.

"I am honestly surprised you two waited as long as you did." Seilah brushed her to the side holding a book between her fingers as the plant monster let out a growl.

"You better hurry up, you said you had a way to cut our travel time right."

The demon sighed her eyes slightly moving to the side as the sound of flapping wings was heard above.

"Huh, I guess the Wyvern is making its daily trip." Hud placed his hands on his hips staring up at the sky not realizing that what he was staring at was going to be his transportation.

"I order you..."

At that point, the creature stopped in midair turning its body towards them.

"W-wah?!" Flrea quickly crawled back onto his friends again as Hud lowered his stance preparing for a fight...with a beat of a wig the twigs and leaves snapped off the trees as the creature landed before them. Its eyes were somewhat glassy.

Hud relaxed his body as he realized the monster in front of them wasn't going to attack. "Ah, what happened?"

"Are you shocked? Even if my powers haven't been fully restored taking control of a creature like this after seeing it for so many days in a row is rather simple."

Despite saying that, she still wasn't able to use Marco on either Hud or Flrea, despite the latter's low strength. It seemed that those type of monsters might have been flat out immune to her type of curse...or perhaps something else?

As Flrea pulled up the bag with the vines, he called arms Hud crossed his arms before speaking.

"We are going to that Pergrande Kingdom place right?"

"Yes, that is the plan..." That is, at the very least where the remains of Cube should have been.

"That places name sounded familiar then I remembered it's because it's where 'that' group lives." Hud frowned, now he was the one being cryptic.

"W-wait, you don't mean..." Flrea shoved his hands into his mouth not to speak their name as Seilah bit the bullet and asked.

"What group are you talking about?"

"You probably never heard of them...mostly because any mage or demon that have most likely have been killed. They are a group of five monsters all of the rank of City Destroyer or higher. They are all really deadly that even me and Flrea had heard of them."

"What's their name?" Seilah had to ask as Hud closed his eyes.

"They call them...the Salad Squad."

"..." Seilah was expecting either Flrea or Hud to break out and laughter, but their stoned faces told her that they were dead serious.

"The...Salad Squad?"

"Y-yeah." Flrea reconfirmed. "But, I don't we are going to see them, I mean the world is pretty big the chances we run into those guys are really slim."

"Flrea has a point. I wouldn't mind fighting them if I get the chance, but I wouldn't want to do it on this kind of trip." Hud stated as he jumped onto the large winged creature.

Seilah put the Salad Squad out of her mind, after all, anyone named that probably wasn't of any concern to her. She once again ordered the creature as take off as it took to the air.

The wyvern arched its back slightly allowing the three of them to sit up.

"It should take us about two days to reach the kingdom if we take stops. Perhaps slightly faster..."

Hud gave an audible groan but stopped himself from complaining.

"Please don't be like that, this does give us time to get to know one another..." Seilah eyes narrowed. Despite having stayed with the duo for at least three days, she had barely found out anything. Outside of that they were monsters and didn't use magic. A little more information could be useful for later.

"Huh, what do you want to know?" Hud asked.

"Where do you come from?"

"My parents..." Hud answer was so blunt it was clear that he wasn't sarcastic.

"I meant what location..."

"A place. Golly, are demons born differently or something?"

Flrea simply laughed at Seilah's attempt to get information out of his friend. "It's pointless, us monsters don't care where we come from. If you want to say learn anything of note ask what we want to do instead."

It really wasn't what Seilah planned for, but she still had a more relevant question regardless.

"Why would a non-magic user want to start a guild anyway?" Seilah stated. She did think it was weird that a so-called monster would not only go out of his way to hunt for powerful demons and monsters but also waste time calling it a guild.

"Because I thought it would be fun...and I want to fight strong people and get stronger myself."

"Is that really it?" Seilah had a hard time believing that anyone would go through the trouble of starting a guild just to fight people.

"Well...I do have one goal. Remember a few nights ago when I told you a rank for monsters that isn't real? Well, it's because it's a legend, Omen of Selfishness, Physical Perfection."

"Is that what it is called?" The rank itself sounded far different than the ones described to her before.

"Yes, it is said that only creatures incapable of using magic can reach that state. But...I have no idea what to do to get there, but I'm only around 52, so I'm still pretty young. I've got plenty of time to find it!"

He was...older than he let on. Plus it didn't seem like he was lying either, what was he really? Perhaps it was due to her little time on earth land, but the thought that creatures as powerful as these monsters were hidden was bizarre.

None of that mattered at the time, right now what was important was getting to the ruins of Cube and finding anything useful.

Small coughs were heard under the rubble as it started to shift and slide off. It was a strange mixture of metal and stone as if a failed project had just occurred.

"As if hell itself no longer had any room... LAMY RISES AGAIN!" with one final push the bunny-eared demon poked her head out of the rubble shouting. She then dug herself out, first her arms and her feet before looking at her hands.

Her gazed shifted to the room before her being greeted with a rather unsettling sight.

It was her corpse...or rather corpses, most of which had already been dissolved due to their lack of magic.

"I guess I'm not the original then..." she was just one of the mass-produced copies that were created...then again if all original was dead and so was all the mass production copies besides her, then she was basically Lamy.

"Now...what happened." She looked, she was still in a building of sorts. But only a chuck, most of the walls were blown away half buried underground, and there was only a single panel and tube left standing.

Lamy grumbled as she started to mess with the machines in the area. It seemed that Hell's core was yanked out of the cube and flung somewhere...but where was the problem?

"Well, first I should figure out if anyone else is still alive. Luckily every demon I worked on can be tracked so..."

She pulled out a map made out of what seemed to be tentacles and fleshed. The last few tentacle-like strands on the final tube removed itself piercing the map that Lamy was holding.

Despite it being Taken-over it still had some of the original function left. Lamy then held up the map and grumbled.

"You mean all the hunks ended up dying but that titty monster is still around?!" The world was strangely cruel Lamy also noticed something else that was odd about it.

"That can't be right... it tells me that Seilah is in two places at once. One heading to towards Pergrande Kingdom where she was , and the other was Fiore where the guild Fair Tail was located.

"That must be a mistake. I'll ignore the one in Fiore...mostly because the other one is closer."

Lamy pondered for a moment. "Is she going to check on the Cube? Or at least what remains of it..."

Honestly, that was also Lamy's first instinct. The Cube was an odd thing, despite technically being in Pergrande it could appear anyway. So once it was destroyed, even if it was say in Fiore, the pieces would in Pergrande or around the Earthland.

At the same time, meeting back up with Seilah could also be helpful. It was no secret that Lamy wasn't capable of much by herself. It would be smart to meet up with her and investigate the ruins of the Cube together.

Lamy dug through the remains of the hell gate once more. This time taking the odd flesh on the map and contorting it. It was still a map, but this time showed a few more location around Earthland.

"This is really bad, to think it would be blown apart like that..."

She was starting to think that there was no point in even trying to get a few pieces of it. Face was gone for good even if they repaired the Cube, and if she and Seilah were the only ones still alive then repairing it was probably impossible regardless.

"Wah! This is true hell!" Lamy pulled her ears before sighing. She looked around noticing the door out on the ceiling. She activated her curse sliding across what was left of the room before spinning to the top hitting her head on the metal door nearly ejecting herself out of the room.

What she saw when she poked her head out was nothing but a grassy field from miles and miles not a single town in sight.

"I-I landed in the worst possible location...no matter, as long as I keep making my way towards Seilah it should be fine." Lamy pulled herself out completely before sliding off the chunk of the Cube and landing in the grass below.

The Wyvern gave a tired cry, the flapping of its wings steadily slowed. It seemed that even now Seilah power was still too weak to push something past its natural limitation. At the very least they were technically in Pergrande Kingdom.

"Once we past the border we will find a place to land," Seilah stated as the three of them flew over the walls. Luckily the Wyvern was large enough to cover their bodies, or they may have been shot down.

The borders to the kingdom were far more enforced than she had expected. As if they were preparing for something, or at the very least making sure their country was protected.

"Wow, never been here before...it's weirdly flat." Hud looked down noticing a lack of trees or anything else, but it really wasn't a desert or anything of the sort. Just grassy plains from one end to the other.

"The Pergrande Kingdom is mostly flat land until you get closer to the capital, at the edge of the kingdom should be the cube. We need to be careful not to let anyone see where we land."

Out in the open, there are very few places to hide. Even then they didn't really have a map that showed their current location or where to go. Seilah knew it was at the edge of the kingdom, but that could mean plenty of places.

After they got into a clearing, they finally landed. Once they got off the beast, Seilah commanded it to leave, after all, if she lifted the curse at the moment the monster would probably attack them, and that wasn't something she wanted to deal with.

"So...what do we do now?" Flrea jumped on his friends back.

He made a good point. They were in the middle of a field in an unknown kingdom. They had been traveling for at least two days, and honestly, the plant-like creature wanted to see what was so important about the cube.

"We head to the edge of the continent and make our way around."

"...EH? Wouldn't that take a long time? Can't we stop by a town or something?" Flrea started to whine as Hud started to laugh.

"I do agree with that, isn't there a town we can stop by? We haven't really had a proper place to rest in a few days. I don't mind too much, but we'd probably complain about it the whole way." Hud had a strange way of saying what he meant.

"If you want to stop by a town that is fine however...you may have noticed something about me that would draw some eyes."

"...I mean, your boobs aren't that big." Flrea stated as Seilah eye twitched. It took everything in her power not to throw a book at him.

"It's because you're a demon right?"

"It's obvious, even if I can hide my horns a

well-trained mage would still be able to feel my curse."

Hud crossed his arms, "does it matter? I mean, if they are just mages and humans we can ignore them even if they do notice."

Seilah couldn't help but feel irritated by how casually Hud talked about the situation. Even if they were strong enough to squash any resistance they might come across she didn't want to go flaunting her power yet. Not until she had recovered enough to make her strike against Fairy Tail and gain the other half of her strength back.

"It does, but if you two truly insist on doing this..." Seilah took a deep breath closing her eyes she took her fingers and placed them on the horns on her head. With a single deep breath, all traces that she was a demon vanished from her body.

From her horns to her former guild markings. She looked like a perfectly normal, a bit beautiful human being with an odd fashion sense.

Honestly, she never thought that she would have to stoop so low to hide herself. It was truly disgusting and an insult to her pride as a demon. However, she would put up with it, even if it was just for the time being.

She did make a deal after all.

"Gosh, if you could do that this entire time I wonder why you bothered taking over that town."

"You fool, us demon can absorb a bit of energy from those we curse. Not only that but maintaining this false form is even more difficult than using a basic curse."

Hud closed one of his eyes and scratched his head. "Man, magic, and curses sure are complicated. Either way, I guess it doesn't matter, now. we should head to that town."

Hud stopped the conversation most likely because it wasn't interesting him any longer. The three of them then made their way to the nearest town. The sun had long since set and the moon was rising up.

"Dresstown..." Seilah looked up at the sign leading into the small town. It wasn't really anything of note, there were a few magic shops and a couple of people enjoying the night, but besides that, it was a normal town.

Though it was a bit large, far larger than most towns. The size matched the country they were in at the very least.

"Wow, this place sure is big where should we go fi-"

"We are going to the inn..." Seilah words had an absolute air to them as Hud slumped his shoulders. However it was fair, Seilah was already taking a huge gamble, and he couldn't argue with her.

"Alright straight to the inn, maybe once you are done looking for whatever you are looking for we can come back here." Hud knew the chance of that happening was unlikely.

They entered the nearest inn as the keeper looked at the three of them. Flrea was unmoving, almost doll-like. It was clear he was pretending to be some sort of stuffed toy not to get any attention.

As soon as the innkeeper locked eyes with the three of them, she gave a cheerful smile.

"Ah I see would you two like a room?" She smiled as Seilah eye twitched at the woman's cheerfulness. She had a feeling that a mistake was about to be made that was going to need correcting.

"Yep here you go!" Hud then casually took out his bag and poured what appeared to be stacks of Jewel, far too much for what the room was worth. It was clear that he and Flrea had been holding back quite a bit of money. "Is this enough?"

The woman's eyes widened before she stammered. "Of course it is! I will personally see to it that you two will get the best room in the inn!"

"Wow, you really nice!" It seemed that Hud didn't realize how much he overpaid for the entire thing, but it really didn't matter. The innkeeper led the three to the second floor of the inn, in the back of the hallway was a door leading to what was clearly the largest room they had.

It had two beds and even a small table.

"Enjoy your stay~ Just tell me if you need anything!" The woman nearly skipped away most likely preparing to count the money she had earned.

Flrea wiggled slightly before he exhaled. "Man, that sure does take a lot out of me." He jumped from his friend's arms and onto the bed. "This beats sleeping on a giant lizard any day."

"Are you two satisfied?" It seemed that Seilah still wasn't completely satisfied with having to stay the night as Hud shrugged.

"Come on. I love sleeping outside and in an open field. I am a monster after all, but Flrea gets really irritable if he has to keep doing it."

"H-hey..." Flrea called out as Seilah sat on her bed. It was apparent she was going to get one to herself as her eyes traveled towards the window staring out into the town.

Nothing else really happened for the next few hours. They just spent most of their time resting and eating the small amount of food that Flrea and Hud managed to pack.

That was until Seilah checked the window again. Her eyes widened for a moment, due to the curtain she wasn't able to see it in detail, but she was positive that someone had attached themselves to the side of the building and was spying on them.

Seilah could only imagine what worthless, disgusting creature would be doing something like that...however, she didn't have to wait for long to find the answer. She lifted her hand commanding her books. However, instead of commanding them to her side she made them on the other side of the window.

After all, she wanted to avoid breaking the window and causing a scene. She then closed her fingers attacking the unknown figure.

"Blegh!" An unsettling familiar screech was heard as both Flrea and Hud jumped up from their bed.

"What happened..." Hud rubbed his eyes clearly on the verge of falling asleep as Seilah opened the window and looked down at the street below.

"Out of all the guild members to make it out alive..." there was spite in her voice as she jumped from the second-floor window and towards the ground below. Hud following her.

As the two landed, they noticed a strange woman wearing a lab coat with bunny ears sticking out of her skull.

"Huh, she's a demon huh? But her presence was so small I didn't even notice her." Hud was...honestly shocked he missed it. Normally he would be able to notice even animals but to completely miss a demon...

"Don't be." Seilah quickly corrected him. "She is a living piece of garbage.

The bunny eared demon twitched as she lifted her head. "W-why do you have to be so mean Se-" she cut herself off the moment she laid eyes on Hud.

As if all the energy in her body had been restored she quickly ran toward the monster pressing her hand to his chest. "Who is this hunk?"

"Ah, well my name is Monster Hud...are you friends with Seilah?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that? How did someone as creepy as Se-" the bunny-eared woman didn't finish her statement as someone grabbed her ears lifting her into the air and slamming her into the ground.

"Why are you still alive Lamy?" Seilah started to stomp on her victim's head as Lamy started to let out a strange noise similar to that of a pig.

"Y-you should know the answer to that..."

Seilah stopped for a moment recalling the last time she saw Lamy. Or the last time she had seen her clones...

"So one of those survived." Seilah finally lifted her foot as Lamy dusted herself off.

"Yep. I'm the last one. I'm pretty lucky huh, you know I've been looking for you."

"Why?"

"W-what kind of answer is that?" Lamy flinched. "We both were apart of the same guild it's only natural that we look for one another...plus if you are here you must be looking for the remains of cube right?"

Seilah eye twitched as Hud smiled.

"Yeah, we are, hey do you want to join my guild?" Hud was as blunt as ever as Lamy quickly covered her face.

"A-A hot guy so suddenly asking me to join his guild...he must be too shy to just say he fell in love with me," Lamy mumbled something to herself as Seilah growled.

She always hated Lamy. He always saw her as a disgusting leach. The fact that she was alive and Madam Kyôka was nearly unbearable.

"Well, since I have nothing better to do why not..." Lamy snorted as Seilah grabbed the demon by the throat.

"A piece of garbage like you would ju-"

"Oy put her down...she is part of the guild now." Hud interrupted her as Seilah's hand twitched.

"What? Just like that, you have to be kidding me." Seilah growled as Hud simply nodded.

"Yep, I'm the guild leader person, right? And a big part of this trip was finding new guild members anyway."

He had a point, but at the same time, Hud also said he wanted strong guild members, and Lamy was the opposite of that.

"D-don't be like that Seilah..." Lamy held her throat wincing for a bit before she finally pulled out her map. "You are looking for the pieces of the Cube, and I just happen to know where they all are."

Seilah grumbled preparing to rip the map from the scientist's hands, but before she could, Lamy lifted one of her fingers. "By the way, this map only works while I'm holding it. If you try to use it, it won't show you anything."

"Lamy...you," Seilah growled as Lamy gave the most annoying laugh.

"I'll take you to the biggest piece of the cube. After all we demons should stick together."

Hud smiled, "now that that's been decided I need to ask the inn lady if we can let Lamy stay in our room." With that Hud jumped back through the open window leaving the two demon woman to their devices.

"If you get in our way...I'll blow your head off." Seilah walked away allowing Lamy to giggle to herself.

"I guess I'll leave the part about her second half to myself..." Lamy grinned if even for a moment she was now apart of the Demon Fang.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

VS Salad Squad

"We've been walking for hours...are you sure this living garbage is telling the truth?" Flrea groaned as they were seemingly walking into the middle of nowhere. They were miles from the nearest town, and the plant monster was starting to think it was all a huge joke.

"Y-you don't have to call me living garbage," Lamy whined as Seilah simply scoffed.

"If she is lying then I'll blow her head off instantly."

"D-don't do that either!"

"Come on. I don't think she would drag us all the way out here if it was a lie. Plus I didn't notice any evil intent from her." Hud stated as Lamy kept checking the map. She finally stopped looking around.

"Ah, this should be the spot but..."

"There is nothing here but a pond..." Flrea growled as he jumped off of his friends' shoulders looking into the water.

Despite it being a body of water, it was odd. The surrounding ground didn't dip into it, and it was more like a giant puddle than a pond. The grass was still growing normally around it without even a hint of an incline.

"This is..." Seilah placed her hand on the ground as the ground beneath them started to shake. The grass and dirt were torn away before stopping suddenly. The pool of water was taking an almost solid state as Hud's eyes widen.

"W-woah, this thing is the Cube you've been talking about?"

"It is, at least a piece of it..." Seilah grumbled as she heard laughter coming from Lamy.

"See~ I wasn't lying at all!" Lamy nearly started to dance like all of them jumped from the top of the now elevated ground. They looked at what now seemed like a strange landmass with water pouring out of the side.

"We cannot enter it like this." The structure was still half buried as Seilah sighed. She didn't even know if that was even the right part of Cube.

"Let me see if I can do something." Hud then rubbed his hands together walking around the large mass trying to find anything he could grab. Once he found a clump of dirt, he started to pull on it slowly lifting the mass from out of the ground. His sheer strength was impressive however the water was starting to warp as if it was plastic.

"Stop, stop, stop! you'll break it even more if you lift it like that!" Lamy whined causing Hud to stop grumbling.

"Geez, then what can we do? Just letting it stay like this would make our entire trip go to waste..." Hud pointed out, even if they did technically get a new guild member he still wanted to see what the big deal was about this cube.

"Well~ we might just have to wait until it naturally rises high enough for us to enter. And not even I know when that is going to me!" Lamy was truthful. They probably couldn't do anything about it.

"Yeah, bu-" right when Hud was about to finish his statement he froze, it wasn't just him, but Flrea did so as well as if they had sensed something horrible.

"What is wrong?" Seilah asked as Hud bit his lip, beads of sweat pouring from his forehead.

"We're being watched, and it's not by some weakling either..." Hud took a deep breath wondering if he should call them out. "Hey, who are you!"

"Who are we?" A voice called back, at that moment even Seilah body tensed as Lamy started to shake.

At that moment four robbed figures jumped from out of nowhere landing in front of them of varying sizes.

"Who are we? Isn't it obvious!" The figures all called out in unison as one by one they started to rip off their hoods.

"The fastest member, and good for your eyesight too! Carrot!" The first one ripped off their cloak revealing a small bunny woman with paws and feet like one as well. She struck a pose. A strange marking matched what appeared to be the orange jumpsuit clashing against her white fur.

"The strongest member! Even though I'm not a vegetable, I am key to any salad! It is I Tomato!" A bear tore about his cloak revealing blood red fur. His short stubby legs contrasted his huge arms. He was wearing a red jumpsuit. Once again he struck a pose.

"I may be a bit boring, but a salad without me is like cereal without milk! I am lettuce!" The large Hippo stomped nearly shaking the entire ground as he too did a pose as all eye turned to the final one.

"The Second in command! My name is as high in protein as I, me Cauliflower!" A lizard walking on his hind legs danced for a bit, his scales reflecting, despite that his white jumpsuit did not tear.

"CAUSE WE ARE! The special forces group, the SALAD SQUAD!" The four of them sang in unison as Lamy tried her best not to burst out into laughter.

Seilah would have been laughing too if it wasn't for the absolute looks of dread that Hud and Flrea were giving.

"T-the Salad Squad, what are you guys doing here?" Flrea stuttered as Cauliflower smiled his sharp teeth showing as his tail whipped around.

"Shouldn't we be asking that of four unknown things? Well, unluckily for you we were told to kill anyone seen spotted around this...and this area is rather specific."

"I guess that means us just walking away isn't an option." Hud frowned lower his stance as Carrot laughed.

"Nope, no can do sweety pie. Captain Salad gave us orders, and we would never go against our captain."

Hud winced, he should have been happy that at least their captain wasn't there.

"So...who is going to get the kill this time? It's been so long since I actually knocked someone's head off." The bear laughed as the hippo grumbled.

"Not you, you got to kill those demons from last time!" The hippo known as Lettuce whined as Cauliflower clapped his hands.

"Now, now, there is enough fresh meat for all of us. But first, let's check the rater..." Cauliflower took out what seemed to be a small orb from his jumpsuit and scanned them.

"Ah, the boy is a city destroy rank...that's interesting. The demon and the plant are only town destroyers and the last one." Cauliflower looked at Lamy with pure disgust. "Not even worth talking about."

"Aw, what? Are they that weak? Now I'm starting to wonder if doing this is even worth it." The Tomato sighed as Carrot laugh.

"Don't be like that. We can at least toy with them for a bit."

"Alright, now how would you guys like to die. We can do this fair and square, one on one or we can have a free for all four on four." Cauliflower grinned as Hud eye twitched as he looked over to Flrea and Lamy.

Those two weren't fit for combat. They would be crushed instantly if they had to fight.

"How about two on two, me and Seilah against any two of your members." Hud laughed nervously. It wasn't a decision he liked, but if they could somehow make it past the first two members, they would have a better chance of winning.

Seilah stepped forward. She still thought the whole thing was quite silly, but the way Hud was acting was made the threat far more serious.

"Alright then, I'll take the woman!" The bunny known as Carrot took a step forward stretching as the Bear known as tomato did the same.

"If it is like this everyone will get a chance to fight...you don't mind right Lettuce?"

The hippo just grumbled as the bear simply shrugged.

Hud took a deep breath before speaking one last time. "Seilah don't waste time on that form, go all out right from the start. You won't get a chance once they start throwing punches."

He couldn't have been serious, the bunny in front of her was already half of her size. If she transformed she would have completely towered over her, but the way he was saying that...

"I order...myself!" At that moment blue and red energy wrapped itself around Seilah as Carrot eyes widen. She then took her scanner and scanned Seilah once again.

"Oh my, she jumped up an entire rank with that...still doesn't really matter." Carrot just smiled not intimated by Seilah's etherious form.

"Alright, I got the bear..." Hud lowered his stance before dashing towards his enemy who simply smiled. Hud started with a rapid succession of blows which the hulking beast easily blocked as if he was swatting away flies.

"...There!" Hud leaned back his leg kicking the monster in the face as Tomato slid back his head still turned from the blow...however.

"That actually stung a bit kid," the bear monster just laughed as his eyes focused on Hud. He then struck a pose before his hand twitched.

"Seed punch!" In an instant, Hud felt a heavy impact against his stomach. He didn't even see his opponent move, yet he was sent flying into a nearby rock shattering it.

"Come on. You can do better than that..." Tomato laughed as Hud struggled to get up. He knew the Salad Squad was strong, but he had no idea that they would be so terrifying.

Seilah swiped at the bunny girl at high speeds. However, each one was casually dodged as if Carrot was dancing around her as she felt something similar to a hammer hit her leg.

"Gah!" Seilah cried out in pain as wings erupted from her back as she flew up into the air. She would be safe if only for a moment in the sky as she quickly scanned the battlefield.

"W-where did sh-" Seilah was cut off as a heel of a foot impacted her skull sending her towards the ground, but before she could even hit the earth another blow hit her sending her bouncing onto the ground spinning like a top.

She coughed up blood, trying her best to maintain her transformation.

"You know I thought those markings looked familiar," Carrot said looking at the demon. You were a part of that Tartarus demon group, right? You know we were ordered to kill you, but someone took you out before we got the chance."

Carrot then giggled. "I wished we got there sooner. It seemed like easy pay."

Seilah struggled to get up. The truth of the matter was, even if she was functioning at the best of her ability she doubted she would have been able to beat the monster in front of her.

Not only that, but it seemed like Hud and Flrea, she was completely immune to Macro.

"Curse this...if only Madam Kyouka was here." Seilah struggled to her feet as the small rabbit cracked her wrist...or paws.

Hud headbutted Tomato in the stomach causing him to slide back ever so slightly. The bear's eyes widened for a moment before a grin appeared on his face. Without warning her grabbed Hud, lifting him over his head and slammed him into the earth.

It didn't just leave a crater, but a hole that Salad Squad member could barely see the bottom of.

"Hey...you're not dead are you?" The bear chuckled as a line of dirt leading away from him started to form as Hud dug his way out coughing.

"Wow, you're doing well, you're doing really well, but I think we both know you are nearing your limit." Tomato laughed as Hud bit his lip.

His body was broken and battered as blood dripped from his forehead. Just as he feared. This wasn't a battle they could win.

Hud blocked another blow as he felt the feeling in his arms grow numb. He slid back breathing heavily as Tomato just laughed.

"Yep, you can BEARLY move right now. So, I'm just going to finish you off right quick. It seemed that your friend over there is almost done as well."

Hud grumbled as he noticed Seilah getting knocked into another rock, this time her transformation ending.

"This one is out of gas too..." Carrot snicked casually punting Seilah to the side. On the sidelines was Flrea and Lamy watching the entire scene.

The small plant-like creature grumbled glancing over to the trembling demon next to him. He then glanced towards the grass and water on the ground...perhaps it was just enough to...

"Hey garbage demon...how fast are you?" Flrea whispered

"H-huh why are you asking me that? You aren't expecting me to actually do something!" Lamy had a strict no fighting unless there was a 100% chance of victory policy. This clearly not being one of those situations.

"I just need you to grab Hud when I give you a signal."

Lamy was shaking as she noticed the last two Salad Force members paying the two of them no mind. She swallowed harshly before putting on a smile. It wasn't like they would let her live even if she begged so she might as well follow the plant freak.

"Alright! Ready to die?" Tomato clapped his paws as he raised them into the air. He then started to suck in a large amount of air, steam slowly starting to come from his body.

There was a gurgling in his mouth as if he was storing saliva in it. Tomato then opened wide as bubbles and foam started to form around his lips.

"Oh man, he is going to use the Saliva Crusher, haven't seen that one in a while!" Carrot laughed as Hud bit his lips and cross his arms preparing to block the attack.

At that moment a torrent of water came flowing out of the bear's mouth as Hud prepared for an impact that never came...or rather a different one hit him.

"Huh?" He noticed Lamy grabbing his waist slipping him and herself out of the way of the blast. Before anyone, even the Salad Force could comprehend what was happening the ground beneath them started to shake as trees instantly shot up from the ground pushing them towards the sky.

All except Lamy and Hud.

"What are yo-"

"Ah, stop, stop and hurry. We have to find Seilah and get out of here!" Lamy whined as she grabbed Hud by his shirt and slid around. Luckily the bunny demon managed to remember Seilah's general location despite all the trees and leaves.

"G-grab her wah!" Lamy seemed like she was on the verge of crying, but Hud followed her instructions as he grabbed the unconscious Seilah and slid down the incline.

It seemed the chunk of the Cube had moved once again, but that wasn't really worth focusing on at the moment. The landed on the grassy plains as both Hud and Lamy made a dash back towards the town. Hud still carrying Seilah in his hands.

"Hey, is Flrea with you?" Hud asked as Lamy nodded pointing to her lab coat.

"He's in one of my pockets...but stop worrying about him and worry about us! We're in the middle of the field they are going to catch us."

Hud turned around only to notice that no one was giving chase. "I don't think that is the case. They were there for a reason, and they probably won't waste time looking for us. We should probably head back to town for the time being..."

"Bah, I can't believe they got away!" Carrot nearly screamed as Cauliflower just sighed.

"Leave them be, we have to be at an autograph signing in a few hours and the Captain will have our head if we are late."

Tomato laughed swatting away the trees as if they were toothpicks. "I'm not completely satisfied, but at the very least I got to have some fun."

"Then...shall we do what we came here to do?"

They all arrived back at the inn, Lamy's body nearly deflating from the sheer amount of stress she was under. Hud placed the still unconscious Seilah on one of the beds as he sat down taking a deep breath.

"That probably could have gone better."

"You don't say!" Lamy replied opening her jacket as Flrea's flopped out. Or rather just his head.

"Ugh, I didn't think I would have to use that much of my body to grow that..." Flrea sighed as Hud smiled picking up the small plant monster.

"Yeah, thanks for that...I appreciate it.

"You should. I didn't want to come here! And now I had to watch you get beat up by the Salad Squad. I told you we shouldn't have let that demon witch into our guild!" Flrea quickly replied as he glared at Seilah.

"W-what about me I helped too." Lamy pointed out as Flrea scoffed.

"Don't bother Hud. We don't thank trash bags for doing their jobs."

Lamy nearly fell to the floor from the insult. "E-even though I helped..."

"Anyway, what are we going to do now? Staying in this country seems dangerous with the Salad Squad hanging around, and it doesn't seem we can do anything with that stupid Cube anyway." Flrea made a good point.

"I wouldn't mind fighting them again since that last fight made me more powerful. But I still don't know if I could beat any of their members. Plus they are monsters so I doubt they can actually do anything with demon stuff." Hud pointed out

"There are also other parts of Cube scattered to different kingdoms...I think we should go after those first before trying to collect the ones here." Lamy said as Flrea crossed his arms.

"So it's decided, we are going back home!" Flrea nearly cheered as Hud crossed his arms.

"Well, shouldn't we wait until Seilah, we can't really leave without her at the moment...unless you are willing to walk back," Hud said as Flrea grumbled.

"Fine, let's go explore the town while she's asleep. That way we can at least look around without her nagging us." Flrea said as Hud placed his friend on the shoulder as the two of them was about to walk out they notice Lamy preparing to follow them.

"No, not you, you have to look after her." Flrea quickly stopped Lamy who flinched.

"W-what? Why me? Why do I have to look after the boob beast!"

"Well, you're a demon, right? It just seems natural." Hud lifted his finger as he and Flrea finally left the room leaving Lamy with Seilah.

Lamy grumbled looking at the unconscious Seilah. "She doesn't seem that tough when she is sleeping. I should get a marker and draw on her face."

Lamy giggled looking through her lab-coat before finally pulling out a pen. She giggled, thinking of all the rude and inappropriate things she would draw. "Maybe we should start with the mouth."

Lamy leaned the pen in, but before she could place the ink on the demon's skin Seilah's eyes snapped open starting right at her.

Lamy's hand froze, wondering what to do. It was clear what she was doing, but perhaps Seilah was still groggy.

"Hey, Seilah I was ju- blegh!" Lamy was slapped before she could offer up her lie as her body flew towards a nearby wall.

"What happened?" Seilah held her wrist not even responding to Lamy's pain.

"We got blown out and had to run away. We decided we should change collecting the rest of the Cube pieces here for later and start collecting them in safer locations first."

Seilah grumbled. She was beaten by a bunny girl that was apart of a group known as the Salad Squad, to say that her day had been going well would have been a blatant lie.

"What else did you fools talk about?"

Lamy rubbed her cheek before getting up. "They said something about going home...so I assume we are leaving the country tomorrow or tonight."

That most likely meant they were going back to Midi...it was frustrating, to say the least. They weren't even able to access the cube, and it seemed like they didn't even have the required power to lift it out of the ground.

"Very well..." She really couldn't argue the point. Them staying in Pergrande was clearly a bad idea at the moment. With the Salad Squad and their current strength, it would be impossible to even check on all of the pieces of the Cube, let alone secure it.

"So what are we going to do now?" Lamy finally asked as Seilah's eyes darkened.

"We refocus, the current 'guild' we are in agreed to help me battle with Fairy Tail. So, we go back to finding strong members for that battle." Seilah's looked at her hand for a moment as Lamy laughed.

"That's perfect, but do you actually have anyone in mind?" Lamy put her hands together as Seilah's closed her eyes as she ran her fingers through her hair. Truly she must have thought of someone amazing.

"Not at all."

"...Wah!" Lamy expression fell, the fact that Seilah was able to say something like that with such confidence...that must have been the power of one of the Nine Demon Gates!

"Do not worry. I'll let Monster handle that. I already knew that this was going to take some time and rushing it would just end in defeat. We both know first hand just how powerful Fairy Tail is, and I would like at least ten members before we even make an attempt."

Ten was probably still too small, but if they were of high enough quality, it would do. Neither Hud nor Flrea were slouches when it came to combat, but Lamy was mostly useless.

Of course, she didn't want to destroy Fairy Tail completely. Rather she wanted to sneak in, defeat Mirajane and get the second half of her power back. Once she had done that she could focus on gather more power and wiping them from off the map.

"Lamy, are you positive that there isn't any other surviving member of Tartaros?"

"Positive, even if we found their remains, I doubt there would even be enough for me to reconstruct them." Lamy was as blunt as possible, something that on a normal day Seilah would have appreciated, but...

"It seems that reviving Madam Kyôka really is impossible..."

For a moment, if Lamy didn't know any better, she would have said that Seilah almost looked sad...but that was impossible. She was a demon after all and one of the cruelest ones to boot. Still, Lamy decided to say something that she may start to regret.

"Um, well it might not be completely impossible..."

"What do you mean?" Seilah sat up as Lamy nervously twiddled her thumbs.

"W-well, I still have a piece of the hell's core. Meaning that I can make another tube that could reconstruct us. I doubt it will be good enough to bring the dead back to life, but with the right items I might be able to make a copy of Kyoka."

Seilah didn't respond right away as she just turned her head mumbling something to herself. "Fine then, I shall think about it. However the moment we get back to Midi I want you to work on that tank. Even if reviving Kyoka is impossible having something like that is still useful."

"S-sure!" Lamy quickly replied as Seilah smiled.

Perhaps finding Lamy wasn't the worst possible outcome after all. Once she got her power, they would test their luck against the Salad Squad again.

However now was the time for her to rest. She couldn't keep using her ability in her condition, but if what she thought was true and monsters were immune to Macro, then that would be difficult.

 **Author Note**

 **I really didn't make a secret who the Salad Squad was inspired by. I just wanted to make goofy villains that were actually extremely dangerous since when I do see villains in Fan fiction, they are almost played completely straight. Though it was also for the imagery of having our heroes getting beat up by a bunny girl nearly 1/4 of their size.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

My Drive

"We're back!" Flrea rolled off the large bird that Seliah had taken control of and back onto the grassy ground below. His body had only partially grown back and the plant creatures primary mode of transportation was still rolling around.

"Gosh, this is the exact spot we left too...how did you get them to land here?" Hud jumped from the giant bird as Seilah followed.

"It was simple. I ordered the creature to land where we left." She forced far more complex task before, something as straightforward as that wasn't beyond her ability.

"I-it will be nice to finally be able to rest a bit after all that." Lamy sighed closing her eyes slide off of the beast. Once she did Seilah released the monster from her curse as it quickly flew away.

"Rest? As I recall you were supposed to start making a regeneration chamber for you and me..." Seilah's eyes narrowed.

"W-what you want me to start working on that no-" Lamy was cut off with a glare as she laughed nervously. "O-Of course I will just show me where the guild hall is."

"Alright, come with me garbage bag..." Flrea rolled his head as Lamy and him vanished into the brush, right before Hud could do the same Seilah stopped him.

"I suppose that battle was far more than you bargain for..." Seilah stated as Hud laughed.

"Yeah, but I'm glad I fought them. Because of that, I got a little bit stronger..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, when my body takes damage it recovers stronger than before. It's only slight, but I get better from fighting far more than training, but training is important too." Hud laughed as Seilah smiled .

"What if I could tell you a way to get stronger quickly?"

Hud fell silent, his expression telling the demon that he was at least curious.

"Lamy is an expert on demons. If you ask her she will be able to implant demon particles into your body, even a monster like you would grow st-"

"Nah..." Hud quickly cut her off as Seilah's eyes twitched.

"Why you want to get stronger do you not? If you are worried about me betraying you..." She did have that in mind, but it wasn't the first thing that entered her head when she told Hud.

"Because I'm Monster Hud. Not Demon Hud, that sounds way lamer."

"That cannot be the only reason." A part of Seilah wouldn't put it past him.

"It's not that, even if you asked Flrea he would say the same thing," Hud replied still not giving her an answer.

"Then...why, why do you even fight? Is it to conquer something...or perhaps something as disgusting as protecting your friends?" Seilah growled at the sheer thought of the latter one.

In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if that was his answer...

"Nope, nothing as worthless as that. I have no interest in conquering anything, and my friends can take care of themselves." His response confused her for a moment, mostly because she really couldn't comprehend it.

"Then why..."

"Because I want to reach my goal. To become strong and fight a lot of strong people along the way. I want to be a better version of myself every day until I reach the invincible me at the end!"

"You just want to be strong? That doesn't make any sense! Everyone wants power for a reason!" Whether it was to show off, or because something horrible happened to them in the past. There was a reason for everything, perhaps a stronger monster beat him when he was younger, or he was too weak to save someone.

There had to be a reason...

"My reason is because...because...I REALLY LOVE FIGHTING!" Hud nearly cheered as he said that. "Every time I'm punching something or training I just feel great, even when it looks like I'm about to die for sure I can't help but still feel excited about it," Hud replied as Seilah frowned.

"Then this guild is..." Seilah started to speak as Hud finished her statement.

"To meet really strong people. I wanted you to join because I had a lot of fun fighting you, and once you get your strength back we can have a rematch."

She knew that was at least part of the reason, but oddly enough, to have it spelled out for her so bluntly made the whole thing seem...silly. Like she had joined a playground game, not only that.

"Isn't that selfish?" Even a demon like her could see that much.

"Yep~" Hud grinned as Seilah nearly tripped over herself.

"D-don't say that so casually! Who would join a guild just to satisfy your battle lust?"

"Well, Frlea already told me that when I came up with the idea, and I mean...you, and Lamy joined." Hud laughed, Seilah just growled. He had a point no matter how basic it was.

"Perhaps it was foolish of me even to ask." Seilah sighed as Hud shrugged.

"I mean, we can still do plenty of other stuff besides fighting. Like, we can take those task things I read in a magazine." Hud crossed his arms as Seilah felt a sudden urge to correct him.

"You mean jobs..."

"Yeah those, once we get enough members we can start doing those...I mean, I'll let you and Lamy handle that kind of thing since you guys are more experienced in pointless stuff like that."

Seilah couldn't help but groan at how casually he was talking about this. Even a dark guild needed some organization. They needed ways to find clients and contact them, speak with them and make sure the job was good. Not only that, while dark guilds usually didn't use the normal ranking system they needed to know if a job was too dangerous to be worth the pay.

All of this didn't seem to even pass through Hud's mind. Though perhaps it was for the best at the moment, like Hud said they really didn't have enough members to actually start doing anything. It seemed that they didn't even have a guild mark yet.

"We...shouldn't keep the others waiting." Seilah decided to end the conversation there as the two of them made it back to the broken old building that the three of them had been staying in.

Inside it seemed that Lamy was already starting perpetration on building the container. Instead of the usual glass, it seemed that it was made from thin leaves, most likely Flrea's doing. A large tentacle was attached to the top of it connecting it to the roof of the building.

"You already got this far?" Seilah crossed her arms as Lamy shook her head.

"Nope, not even someone as amazing as me can work that fast. This is more of a prototype me and Flrea created together to see if ti would be possible in this environment. Right now it would only be able to reconstruct very small limbs like fingers for us, and it goes without saying that it wouldn't work on monsters." Lamy gave a uselessly detailed explanation.

"I did not need to hear all of that. I just need to know when the complete version will be finished..." Seilah snapped as Lamy held back some choice words.

"If we can get all the material I need, about maybe a week...at best." Lamy's words caused Seilah to bite her lips. Not only did they need to find material's but it seemed that it would take longer than expected.

"That's not a big deal. We can try to find more pieces of that cube thing while we wait." Hud pointed out as Seilah glared back towards Lamy, the small bunny eared demon quickly pulling out her map.

"U-um, the closest piece is somewhere in Minstrel...that's strange." Lamy tilted her had as she examined the map further.

"What is?" Seilah asked as the bunny-eared demon quickly shook her head.

"Nothing just noticed something strange...anyway where are the beds~" Lamy yawned.

"We don't have any..." Hud replied bluntly as Lamy's eyes widened.

"What? That means I'm going to have to sleep on the floor?"

"Well, we still have some money left over from when we removed Seilah from the town. We could always use that to buy some more furniture." Hud pointed out. They were going to be stuck there for a few days until Flrea had recovered.

"Please, a beautiful lady like me can't be expected to sleep on the cold hard ground..." Lamy let out a small sob as Hud picked up Flrea and placed him on his head.

"Hey, do you want to come with us?" Strangely Hud was asking Seilah such a foolish question as the woman scoffed.

"It'd be a waste..."

Hud just shrugged. "Alright, we'll be back with stuff to lay on!" The way he worded it seemed like a cause for concern as he and the plant monster left Lamy and Seilah alone once again.

Lamy held her breath trying her best not to gain the attention of Seilah as she worked on the grassy tube. Lamy had already reached the limit of what could be done that day, and she was just pretending to work.

"Lamy, would it be possible to increase my power even with a half-functioning hell's core?" Seilah asked as Lamy's ears dropped slightly.

"Ah, maybe, but it would be simpler just to get your other half back right?"

The moment Lamy said that Seilah's eyes widened, the air in the room grew dangerous.

"How...odd, I don't recall ever telling you about my current situation."

"Oh..." Perhaps it was the realization that she let something slip out she wasn't supposed to, but Lamy froze stammer over her words. "Y-you told me back at the inn remember?"

Seilah knew that was a lie, but..."It's not like you knowing changes anything, but I do wonder what your little map has listed on it."

"I-I swear that's all, just your location and the cubes!" Lamy insisted as Seilah chuckled.

"Don't be so tense. I won't kill you. You and I are still guildmates after all, even if it is in a different guild. Plus unlike Tartaros, it seems this guildmaster actually cares about your worthless life."

Lamy relaxed finally stopping what she was doing as she leaned against a nearby wall.

"This place is no Cube, but it is comfy enough, and it beats sleeping outside. So what's our plan anyway? I mean after we get your power back and defeat Fairy Tail."

Seilah tapped her bottom lip before sighing. "Perhaps it is against my style, but we shall think of that once we get to it."

After all, such a thing was quite a ways away. And she wanted to see how the Demon Fang guild panned out. Speaking of such things...they would need a guild mark.

 **Author note**

 **This was more of a cool down chapter. Next chapter it really will head straight into the next arc.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **That Tower in the Distance.**

"Ugh, why did it get hot all of a sudden..." Lamy sighed as she looked over towards the ground. Once again the four of them were flying towards their destination, this time over what appeared to be a savanna .

"Because it got hot, trash bag." Flrea laughed as Lamy glared at him. The small plant creatures limbs had returned as he sat on his friend's shoulder humming to himself.

"This isn't a desert kingdom. However, it does experience certain heat waves on and off." Seilah pointed out as she crossed her legs sitting on the wings of the bird. "Regardless, are we getting closer Lamy?"

Lamy sighed as she opened the map. "According to the map, it should be coming up on the horizon soon..." Lamy put the map down squinting slightly before her eyes widened.

"W-what?" Lamy stuttered causing Seilah to expect the horizon as well. What she saw was cause for alarm.

It was a large structure almost tower like in nature. Specks of green and blue were sprinkled around the outer layer as water flowed from off of it. It was clearly too small the be a mountain, but something about it was just far too natural to be completely built by human hands.

"What is that?" Hud asked as Lamy shook her head.

"I-I don't, but according to the map that is where the piece of the cube is." Lamy swallowed harshly.

Seilah groaned, why couldn't have it been simple? The entire point of them going there was so they could get the piece of the cube and materials for Lamy. Yet something so weird popped up.'

"Well, let's go then!" Hud laughed as Seilah quickly corrected.

"No, we should land and find a town first. Rushing into a situation without inquiring about it would be a poor decision." Seilah pointed out as Hud sighed if only slightly.

"Aw, that's a pretty boring way to do things. Though I can't really argue with it." The sheer disappointment in his voice was telling. However, it was good to know that he was will to place his excitement aside for common sense.

"I see a town near here. Maybe we should land there and ask a few questions." Lamy said as her bunny ears nearly curled into her head. And with a pop, they vanished.

Seilah did the same, her horns and markings slowly fading away to reveal a more human form.

Hud found it strange demons could just...do that. Perhaps it was just some kind of magic or curse. Perhaps it wasn't important to think about. After all, he was a monster and didn't bother with such things.

They landed a mile off from the town as Seilah ordered the bird to fly away. It didn't take long for them actually to reach the town, nor did it take long for them to realize that something was wrong.

It was like a ghost town. Not a single person in sight, not only that but houses were missing chunks from them as if they had been attacked.

"Are you sure anyone even lives here anymore?" Lamy asked as Hud and Flrea both started to stick their noses into the air smelling the surrounding area.

"Yep, humans are definitely here. They're just hiding for some reason." Hud replied as Flrea scratched his head.

"Ah, do you think they came here to attack them or something?" Flrea asked as a sudden shadow was cast on them. They noticed the flapping of wings as the dirt was kicked up from the dusty road.

"Huh?" They looked up as something crashed into the ground. The forced knocked Lamy onto the ground as Hud and Seilah glared at the beast that was before them.

It was a strange monster, like a giant bird and a tiger had been smashed together. It clearly wasn't something that could naturally happen. Its claw was about half the size of a man as it was wearing a large basket around its next.

The creature's eyes lacked any detail completely white as if it was mindless. Which Seilah instantly confirmed as she raised her hand to command it.

"It's pointless it is already under someone's control," Seilah stated as Hud lowered his stance.

The creature looked around for a moment sniffing the air and pointing to the basket that was large enough to hold at least fifteen people. After the monster looked around one more time its eyes focused on Hud and the others before letting out a horrid scream.

It took its talons striking at the ground where they stood as the four of them dodged the blow...though Lamy more made a cry as she sout of the

"Such a nuisance." Seilah placed her hands together firing a row of books towards the beast striking it on the side.

Before the beast could recover, Hud jumped up kicking it with enough force to send it nearly flying across town skidding across the road before it laid motionlessly at the end.

"Oh, I knocked it already?" Hud frowned as he landed Lamy coming out of the hiding spot that she was in.

"I guess that is why no one is around...they must all be hiding from that thing."

"But what was it? It was clearly an animal, but it wasn't natural?" Frlea wondered as Lamy crossed her arms.

"It's most likely a creation of a Mage or something. Some magic and curses allow the fusion of different animals. From there they may have used another mage to take control of it and attack here." Lamy pointed.

"Wow, you're really smart Lamy!" Hud smiled as Lamy quickly scratched the back of her head, her nostrils flaring at the compliment.

"No, no it just common sense. Even though I am a genius." Lamy laughed forcing Seilah to roll her eyes.

"As pleasant as this is, this gets us no closer to finding out about that tower or anything." Seilah pointed out, and as if the universe answered her prayers someone came peeking out of one of the homes.

A small child with a dirty cap and clothes glanced over at them before taking his first step out. His gaze was shifting to the unconscious beast before back at the four non-humans.

"Hey...are you guys Mages from a Guild or something?" The boy took a few steps towards them as Hud puffed out his chest for a bit.

"Well, we aren't mages, but we are from a guild... we're from Demon Fang!" Hud smiled as he said.

"Honestly it would be more accurate to say we ARE Demon Fang." Lamy slumped her shoulders. Perhaps it was the heat that was making her more negative.

"What are you guys talking about? No that doesn't matter, are you here to help us?" The boy asked as Hud scratched his cheek.

"What do you need help with in the first place?"

"Isn't it obvious?! This town has constantly been attacked by those Death's Head Caucus jerks. Every week those jerks send a monster over here and take some of the villagers to that tower."

"You mean that tower in the distance?" Seilah asked as the boy nodded.

"I'm not worried about that. I'm more worried about who these Death Head guys are, and why they have a better name than us?" Hud frowned as Seilah gave an irritated sigh.

"They are a dark guild specialized in assassinations...which makes them kidnapping and making a tower all the stranger."

It wasn't that type of guild. Even if they were a dark guild, they didn't seem like they would have a use for slave labor. Not only that but the tower was in a middle of a random savanna with nothing going to or leaving out of it.

Well...besides people.

"If that's the case let's go over there and beat them up! There must be a couple of strong ones over there I could recruit." Hud missed the entire point, of the conversation...even then.

"D-don't be silly we couldn't do something like that. Plus how would we even be able to get in, I doubt they have a large front door letting visitors into the place." Lamy made a point, most likely just wanting to avoid fighting as Seilah walked over to the still knocked out beast placing her hand on its forehead.

"Hmm, I think I have a plan."

Hud tilted his head for a moment. "Ah, well I'm pretty hungry too Seilah, but I don't think cooking and eating that will help us right now. We could save that for la-"

"Not that you fool!" Seilah instantly cut him off before continuing. "When you knocked this monster out the magic controlling it vanished, I should be able to place it under my curse now."

It took a moment for Hud to comprehend what Seilah was saying before he smiled. "Which means we can sneak into the tower!"

"Yes, of course, I don't know the specifics on where to tell it to land or what to do. So I'll make my orders vague enough to sneak past." Seilah placed her hands on the creatures head whispering something as the monster's body stiffened standing on its feet.

"W-wait, you guys are actually going to do this?" The boy stiffened as Hud nodded.

"Well, sure, we had to go there anyway. We might as well save a couple of people to spread the name of Demon Fang." It seemed Hud was more interested in getting the guild out there rather than saving people.

"A-ah, alright. By the way, my name is Snee." The boy stated.

"My name is Monster Hud, and we will take down that tower with ease."

Lamy groaned as she slowly tried to sneak into the background, perhaps they would just forget about her and leave without even noticing she wasn't there. Of course, that hope was crushed the moment Hud grabbed her arm dragging her towards the monster.

Seilah took a look at the basket that was around the creatures next as she tugged on it. At that moment she summoned her books wrapping it around the see-through holder. "There, it should be impossible for anyone to actually see anything inside. Now, shall we actually get in?"

Seilah jumped up landing into the open basket Hud did the same as he held Lamy. He then poked his head out waving to Snee as Seilah commanded the monster to take them towards the tower.

With the flap of its wings, the monster took off towards the strange tower in the horizon.

"Ugh, hot, hot, hot! Why is it so hot in here!" Lamy leaned up against the wall of the basket as if trying to escape the enclosed space. It felt like they had been flying for hours despite it probably be less than thirty minutes.

"Geez Lamy, if you are that hot why not take off your jacket?" Hud asked as Lamy's eyes widened before she started to giggle.

"I see, you want to take a peek at my sexy body...see what is wrapped under this."

"You idiot, the only thing under that is more garbage!" Frlea quickly shot back as the entire basket started to shake.

"Quiet!" Seilah gave a demand as everyone fell silent. Suddenly the temperature of the basket dropped quickly as the monster was now walking instead of flying. It seemed that they had reached their destination.

"Huh, what the hell is with this light load?" The muffled complaints of someone from the other side could be heard.

"Yeah, not only that but it took longer than usual. Maybe there isn't anyone left in the village to take." Someone else replied.

"So...what's the pla-" before Lamy could even finish her statement as Hud burst through the side of the basket not even bothering to jump out from the top.

"W-who ar-"the guard couldn't even finish his statement as Hud kicked him into a wall knocking him out instantly.

"What the...!" Another guard tried to draw his weapon but felt a heavy impact in his stomach. He collapsed forward as Hud sighed.

They were both wearing strange plastic like suits covering their entire bodies. Almost as if they were trying to protect themselves from the environment.

"Do not do that again..." Seilah stated as Lamy nodded.

"Yeah, we could have gotten caught," Lamy whined as Frlea was the final one to climb out of the basket.

They looked around they seemed to have been on a random cliff side. It seemed the tower really did have some natural components to it as if it was made out of a miniature mountain.

In front of them was what seemed to have been a random cave entrance most likely leading deeper into the tower.

They had made it, now all that was left was find what mysteries the tower held.

"What is this place?" Hud peeked from out of the corner of the hall. A mixture of dull gray metal and rock lined the halls. Further down was cells upon cells, no doubt prisoners were inside.

"It seems like a prison constructed inside a mountain, but that can't be right...this place seems familiar." Lamy frowned as she looked back at the map. They were right on top of the Cube and unfortunately the map wasn't specific enough to tell her the exact location.

"So what is the actual plan here? Do we just start by breaking people out?" Frlea asked as Seilah shook her head.

"That be pointless currently, I doubt we are on the bottom floor. And we don't know how big this tower is." It could be five floors or one-thousand. There was no way know for sure, and the time it would take to figure out was far too high.

"Either way there could be hundreds of mages here!" Lamy replied as Seilah shook her head.

"Unless they are capable of mass-producing mages I couldn't see more than a dozen of workers here. Even a Dark Guild like Death's Head Caucus doesn't have a few hundred men to just throw around."

"You sure do know a lot about guilds for a demon." Frlea pointed out as Seilah brushed her hair to the side.

"Back at my previous guild, I researched some potential threats. Next to Fairy Tail Dark Guilds what was causing the most concern despite none of them ever attempting to battle us."

"None of that matters, right now we need a plan to explore this place. We should split into teams!" Hud said as Lamy shivered.

"W-what split up? Are you crazy? We don't even know the layout of this place!" Lamy pointed out as Hud chuckled.

"That's why we are splitting up. I already have the teams set up." Hud said as they reached an intersection in the hall. "Lamy and Frlea can go that way, and me and Seilah can go this way.

"...Those teams are terrible Hud." Frlea pointed out.

Frlea didn't have too much pride to state that he was on the weaker side of things. Having him and Lamy together was just asking for trouble. Not only that Hud and Seilah didn't need to be together. They were strong enough on there own that they could probably stop anyone alone.

"Nah, they're fine." Hud lifted Frlea off his shoulder and him on Lamy's. "Good luck you two!" Hud quickly ran down the opposite hall as Seilah sighed quickly following him.

Lamy's face went pale as she turned around looking at the looming dark hallway filled with cells.

"Welp, what are you waiting for garbage bag?" Frlea pulled on Lamy's ears as the demon couldn't help but whine. Not only couldn't she hang out with the hot guy, but she was paired up with the worst partner.

Frlea continued to pull Lamy's ears until she complied heading the opposite way.

"Is it alright for us to leave those two alone?" Seilah asked as Hud laughed.

"It's fine, speaking of which..." Hud spotted two more guards as he was about to make a dash towards them. However, before he could Seilah grabbed his arm forcing him towards a corner.

"W-what are you doing?" Hud frowned a Seilah placed her hands on her lips telling him to be quiet.

"There are better ways to do this rather than brute force." Seilah lifted her hand closed her eyes. She peeked from their hiding spot before making a command.

"I command you...knock yourselves out." It was a simple statement as the two guards bodies stiffed. Without warning, they slammed their metal coated heads into the wall before falling to the ground.

"My way would have been more fun." Hud frowned as the two of them stepped out of their hiding spot looking down at the guards. Once again their bodies were completely covered as if they were protecting against something.

Not only that, when they checked the cells not a single person inside was awake or conscious. As if their bodies had been drained of all of their energy.

"This is odd, do you think this place is poison?" Seilah wouldn't put it past it, but that brought up a question why even bother building something there?

From what they have seen so far they weren't mining for anything or making the prisoners do anything. Just people sitting in their cells doing nothing.

"That is because this place drains those of their magic."

Both Seilah and Hud flinched as they turned to a nearby cell. Despite all the other prisoners being knocked out, there was still one there.

A beautiful pink-haired woman. She had two markings under her eyes, but her hair was slightly disheveled. It was apparent that she had been in there for a decent amount of time. Her green eyes nearly pierced both of them as Seilah felt something familiar about her.

She was in cuffs, Seilah instantly could tell they were magic cancelers. Mostly because she herself had used them before.

"Ah, who are you?" Hud tilted his head as the woman sighed.

"Isn't that odd? An intruder asking for a residents name."

Seilah grumbled before her eyes widened. It was a long shot, but she may have known the person in front of her.

"You're Ikaruga..." Seilah crossed her arms as Ikaruga chuckled remained silent as Hud scratched his head.

"You mean the bird from the legend of the Branch Cutter?" There were so many things wrong with Hud's sentence neither women was going to dignify it with an answer...rather.

"She was one of the founding members of Death's Head Caucus, but..." Why was she there, or rather why was she there locked up in a cell. She was a member of the group doing this, so it seemed odd to have her locked away.

"Ah, so she is apart of the cactus group huh? Does that mean she's strong?" Hud got right to the point as the woman on the other side of the bars finally spoke again.

If you two are mages, you should leave while you can still stand." Ikaruga seemed almost completely uninterested in their conversation despite it being about her.

"You don't have to worry about that, me and Seilah don't use magic at all." Hud grinned causing Seilah hand to twitch. He was spouting out important information without a single care in the world, and she wanted to slap him for it.

Ikaruga eyes darkened for a moment. "Demons...I never thought I would actually met any."

"That's not important." Hud quickly changed the topic. "What is up with this tower?"

Ikaruga closed her eyes. "This tower was created by Death Head Caucus, after some events three years ago I was kicked out. The only thing I know about the construction of this tower is that it is recent."

Hud nodded thinking for a moment. "So you know at least the basic layout right?"

"I know that they have three floors, a fourth if you count the observation deck at the top. This tower is also controlled by two members of Death Head Caucus. Diamond Den acts as a guard and Izanagi acts as its warden."

Hud crossed his arms before speaking. "Alright, I might let you out depending on how you answer this next question...would you like to join my guild!" Hud said it so lightly as Ikaruga glared at him.

"Do you think I could actually agree to something like that so lightly?"

"Aw, why not? I can tell just by looking at you that you are strong and if you don't agree I won't let you out." Hud grinned not realizing just how cruel his statement was.

Seilah remained silent. He was, at least for the moment the guild master.

"That still doesn't mean I will simply join..." Ikaruga pointed out as Hud placed his hands on his hips.

"Geez, humans are so stubborn. Oh well, we'll take out this Diamond guy and the warden without you." Hud was about to walk away when Ikaruga spoke.

"Wait...I may join under two conditions. The first condition I can not tell you, however, the second one is you must also rescue one of my comrades on a lower floor." Ikaruga phrased it more like a demand than a condition as Seilah scoffed.

"Do you truly think you are in a position to ba-"

"Sure!" Hud didn't even hesitate, despite half of the demands clearly being unclear.

"Monster, are you sure about this?"

"Huhuhuh! Of course, you said yourself that we needed new members right? And while I'd prefer a demon or a monster a mage is fine too." Without saying another word, Hud walked up to the bars and casually ripped the entire door off.

He then walked towards Ikaruga as he yanked off her shackles and destroyed her cuffs completely freeing her.

The pinked haired assassin let out a smile before realizing something. She stared at the two unconscious guards. She picked up the sword one of them was using swinging it casually.

"Trash, but it would have to do." She then examined the guard even further before stripping him of his armor and donning it herself. After all, just because she was free didn't mean that the tower wasn't still consonantly trying to steal magic from her.

"We are currently on the second floor, the way to the third floor should be just ahead. I should also warn you, that as we get higher, the resistance will get far more fierce." Ikaruga stated as Hud nodded.

"Where is your friend?" Hud asked.

"He should be on the first floor. You will be able to tell who he is the instant you see him," Ikaruga stated as her hair flowed out of the helmet. It seemed it was simply too long to be contained in such a way.

"Really, that's easy." Hud then turned to Seilah. "I know this is pretty selfish of me to ask, but could you go back and meet up with Lamy and Frlea? Once you've done that I want you to clear the first two floors of the guards and take everyone out of their cells."

Seilah glared at Hud, not because she was insulted, but more than he asked her to do something rather difficult so casually. Then again...she also had a plan, and if it worked it easily could have cut the time it would take in half.

"Very well, but keep your guard up, you are rather easy to stab in the back..." Seilah gave one final look to Ikaruga as she ran back the way she and Hud came leaving Hud and the mage to themselves.

"You can fight right?" Hud asked bluntly as Ikaruga took a step forward.

"Do not say such foolish things...now come."

They both made a dash down the hall. Just like Seilah had stated there were barely any guards in the area. Which meant that the bulk of the forces was either on the bottom floor or near the top.

They finally reached a set of stairs. Half of the steps were grassy stone while the other half was pure metal. The two ran up as they were greeted by two guards.

"Sto-gah!" In an instant, they were both struck down, not even stopping Ikaruga and Hud's pace. They had reached the third floor, and they were going to barrel through everything until they reached the forth...at least that was what they planned.

"Hey, I see the stair ca-" Hud was cut off as he slammed face first into a wall that wasn't there before. He rubbed his nose wincing as Ikaruga stopped as well looking at the diamond wall that stood before them.

"It seems doing this quickly was but a dream..." Ikaruga turned around to be greeted with another guard. This time however instead of the regular black armor they had been seeing up to that point he was wearing blue with the Death Head Caucus mark on the chest.

"I knew we had intruders, but I never thought they would go out of their way to free you Ikaruga..." The man took a step forward, his visor completely covering his eyes.

"Diamond Den..." Ikaruga spoke those words as if they had some sort of familiarity to them as the man's gaze shifted to Hud.

"You really have a way to pick rescuers. I guess it doesn't matter, you both will be dead soon enough."

"This guy is the Diamond man?" Hud asked as Ikaruga nodded.

"Yes, he specializes in Diamond-Make Magic. Before my excommunication from the guild, he was in the top ten. He probably has gotten even higher since then."

Hud scratched his head as he looked at the diamond wall behind him and then back to Ikaruga. "You should probably go ahead and fight the warden..."

Den grumbled at the monster's statement. "You fool do you honestly think I would let either of you g-"

A large smashing sound echoed through the hall as the wall made out of pure diamond was shattered by a single punch from Hud. Without wasting a moment, Ikaruga slipped through.

"H-hey wait!" Den prepared to make another diamond wall as he was kicked in the head sending him bouncing from off the wall and back onto the ground.

"Gosh, you're fighting me!" Hud grumbled as he looked at his fallen.

The guard got back up, diamond covering the point of impact as he slammed his foot on the floor.

"Fine then you little shit. I'll show you just how terrifying Diamond Den of the Death Head Caucus is!"

 **Author note**

 **Don't be afraid to tell me if the story is going too fast and what aspects of it you like and dislike. The reason I update so fast is because I do have a basic plan for the story. I even have the first 10 guild members picked from old characters etc.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6  
**

 **Magic Tower  
**

"Yikes!" Hud ducked as two swords flew past his head as Diamond Den grumbled. He lifted the blades preparing for another blow, but before he could Hud lifted his arms shattering the blades.

"Damn it!" Den jumped back. "Diamond is one of the hardest substances in the world and he's breaking it like glass."

"Hey, it's not that easy...I have to use way more force than usual..." Hud looked at his hands for a moment, they were slightly cut and bruised. Truth of the matter if the man in front of him started to make thicker diamonds it would be annoying to break.

"Then how about this!" Den spread his fingers as spears of diamond appeared in front of him. With a flick of his wrist they were sent straight towards Hud.

Hud just took a step forward evading every single one of the spears closing the distance between him and Den nearly instantly.

"W-what?!" He managed to shout those words before fist planted itself into his stomach. The blow had enough force to lift him off the ground and into the ceiling...however.

"That wasn't enough..." Hud frowned looking at his hand. Blood was dripping from his knuckle as Den chuckled. Despite his body being embedded onto the ceiling of the hallway he was laughing.

"My Diamond-Make Magic is a bit different. It will activate instantly the moment I take a hit. Not only that, but the diamonds I use to protect my body are far harder than the ones I produce weapons with."

Den jumped from the ceiling as Hud eyes widened before he laughed.

"Oh...then I think I already know how to beat you. But I think I'll draw this out a bit longer." Hud laughed as Den grumbled.

"Shut it! I'll show you the strength of the Death Head Caucus!" Den placed his hand on the ground as diamond started to form on the ground. Hud kicked off the floor running across the wall.

"There!" Den smiled lifting his finger making a pillars of diamond from the floor.

Without saying a word Hud dodged the pillars striking Den again causing him to skid across the ground. Den, without missing a beat raised his arms creating a shield. That too was shattered by Hud's knee.

Diamond dust was kicked up as Den vanished from Hud's sight.

"I have you now!" Den appeared directly above Hud, his hands focusing on the monster before a prison made of diamond appeared around him.

Den smiled kicking off the top of the cage crossing his arms. Hud put his hand on the side of the cage as Den started to speak.

"That diamond is reinforced. It won't be shattered so easily as the others."

Hud remained silent as he took a deep breath. With a large shout the entire hallway started to shake. Even the cage started to vibrate violently as Hud reeled back his fist and shattered the cage instantly.

Den was frozen, less due to fear and more due to the shout still vibrating his body. It felt like his body was about to be ripped apart and turned into mush, it was so bad he didn't even notice Hud run up to him ans shoving him to the ground.

"It's pointless, even if you shattered my armor I'll just make a new one right away Den winced as Hud grabbed the man's legs.

"You're right, and I don't like hurting my hands, but this is where the fight ends." Hud response didn't make a lot of sense until he lifted Den off of the ground quickly spinning in place.

Den couldn't even scream as the world around him slowly started to turn into a blur. Hud continued to spin non-stop until finally...

"Here you go!" Hud let go sending Den through two metal walls...

"Eh?" Den was confused until he noticed the bright light of the sun against his visor. The blue sky and the air almost seemed refreshing, until he realized that he was just flung out of the tower...on the third floor.

It wasn't a casual toss either, he was sent flying. The tower nearly vanishing as he gave one last scream.

"Damn you!" That was the last thing Hud heard as the diamond mage vanished from Hud's sight.

"Huh...I guess that takes care of him. I should probably meet back up with the bird lady and stop that warden."

Without wasting anytime Hud got back on course, though he couldn't help but wonder how Seilah and the others were doing.

* * *

"Wah!" Lamy screamed as she ran past more guards completely ignoring their screams to stop.

"What are you doing, we are supposed to fight them!" Frlea pulled on Lamy's ears again as the demon violently shook her head.

"I can't, I can't. I'm more of a lover than a fighter." Lamy fell on her stomach starting to slide away, not daring to look back at the half a dozen guards that were now chasing her.

They somehow managed to make it to the bottom floor, but it wouldn't do them any good if they couldn't actually do anything. That was when Lamy landed face first into a wall.

She slid down for a moment before quickly rubbing her face. Right when the guards were mere inches away from the duo they froze as if their minds had been controlled.

"Eh...I see they must be frozen in fear facing down a demon, huhuhuhuh"! Lamy puffed her chest out her chest not noticing Seilah walking past the guards grumbling.

"It seemed that it really was a poor decision to let you two be alone." Seilah crossed her arms as Frlea grumbled.

"It's not my fault, this trash can wouldn't stop running away long enough for me to fight!"

"I-I've upgraded from a trash bag to a trash can?!" Lamy whined.

"Anyway, why are you here? Weren't you supposed to be helping Hud?" Frlea asked as Seilah closed one of her eyes.

"Plans change, right now we must take care of all the guards as well as free all the prisoners. Not only that, but we must find a special prisoner because a promise."

"Only the three of us is supposed to something like that?!" Lamy stated as Seilah sighed.

"I thought of that and..." she pointed to the guards. "They will be helping us."

"Ah, yeah, Macro." Lamy recalled as Seilah gave a small blush.

"It's...it's just so amazing when a plan comes together."

"A-are you getting off to this?!" Frlea stated as Seilah quickly changed the topic.

"If all these guards have keys we should be able to use them." Seilah stated as she laughed. "From there we can find the creatures they used to take these people here and allow them to escape."

"Wow, who would have guessed such a wimpy ability could actually be useful." Frlea laughed as Seilah glared at him.

"Regardless...I'll coordinate the release of the rest of the inmates, you find the special one."

"What does he look like?" Lamy asked as Seilah shook her head.

"You will know them when you see them." She repeated what Ikaruga had told her and Hud.

"That is really vague..." Frlea said, but decided not to question it too much. If Hud was okay with it, then he would be okay with it too.

Seilah gave the duo a pair of keys from one of the guards as the three split up. Seilah forcing the workers to use their keys while traveling back up to the second floor.

It didn't take long for Lamy and Frlea to find who they were looking for. There was a specially large cell, far larger than the rest as Lamy and Frlea looked at one another. They stepped forward examining the cell further.

"W-wah!" Lamy nearly jumped back. Inside was a large man, nearly towering over the two of them. However that wasn't what was cause for concern, what was cause for concern was the fact he had a owl's head.

"I-Is he human?!" Lamy asked the monster on her shoulder as Frlea eyes twitched.

"F-from what I can see of his soul and scent he is human." Frlea was flat out shocked. He had seen demons with such looks, but never a human. A part of him was wondering if he was making a mistake.

"It seems that you are shocked by my appearance!" The bird man shouted as Lamy flinched.

"That means, you must be the special inmate we were asked to track down." Lamy spoke as the bird man simply laughed.

"Yes, I am the Warrior of Justice, Fukuro!"

Frlea grumbled, for some reason he was getting flashbacks to the Salad Squad. Regardless, if he was the special prisoner there was no reason not to release him.

Frlea took the keys from Lamy as he used his entire body to turn the lock. Once they were inside they undid Fukuro's locks as the owl man struck a pose.

"Ah, was that really necessary?" Frlea stated as Fukuro simply ignored the small plant monster.

"I see so you two are ally's of justice as well. Though I am shocked that you are capable of moving about this tower without having your magic drained."

"So that is what this tower does..." Lamy crossed her arms, she closed her eyes thinking for a moment before she got pale. She checked the map once again, the point was still on their exact location.

"I-I think I know where the piece of the cube is..." Lamy frowned as Frlea tilted his head.

"Huh? You do? Where is it?"

"This tower is MADE out of the piece of the cube. Someone must have found it before us and used it to make this place. That's why it drains magic and life energy, and that's also why it didn't have any effect on us when we got here." Lamy explained.

"I do not know what you two are talking about, but please do not ignore my question!" Fukuro's voice made them flinch as Frlea sighed.

"Sorry, we are from the Demon Fang Guild." Frlea said that with a certain amount of pride.

"I have never heard of you..."

Frlea held his chest as if Fukuro's words had pierced his small plant like heart.

"W-well we are a recent one. Anyway, we've been ordered to release all the prisoners here. So we should meet back up with our other members and get out of here."

"Impossible!" Fukuro snapped. "There is a woman that is in this tower that I must get out before I can leave so casually!"

Frlea grumbled as he climbed on the large man shoulders. "Ugh, fine we can talk about this more once we find the others. You can move even with the magic being drained out of you right?"

"Of course, I am not like the other weaklings here..." Fukuro took a step as Frlea sighed

"Um sure, whatever. I'll show you the way bird man!" Fukuro and Frlea made there way almost leaving a mumbling Lamy behind.

"W-why couldn't have been a cute guy all chained up shirtless... why did it have to be this bird freak."

* * *

Ikaruga cut through the remaining guards as if they were paper. Even without a proper sword and being weakened she could easily defeat them. She looked up at the final staircase leading to the forth and final floor of the tower.

It was different from the others. Instead of being a reflection of the damp prison like the last three were it had a nice wooden finish to it. It was trimmed red and completely clashed with the rest of the tower.

Ikaruga slowly climbed the stairs opening, at the top was a door that she slowly opened.

Once she got inside the room it was like she was in a completely different world. It was a lounge filled with bookcases and even a small area for drinks.

Sitting down was a man with black hair that completely covered his eyes. He was in a suit smiling, it seemed that the effects of the tower didn't reach there as she finally removed her helmet.

"For a founder of the guild you aren't particularly smart." The man smirked. "Instead of just escaping you came all the way here to be killed by me."

Ikaruga let out a cruel smile pointing her blade at her enemy. "Izanagi... do you honestly think I would let you live after what you did to Vidaldus and locking me and Fukuro here?"

The man scoffed finally standing up. "It's your own fault for failing that job so spectacularly...The guildmaster was honestly far to kind letting the two of you live."

"I agree...since she is my next target." Ikaruga replied as Izanagi shrugged.

He lifted his hand as sharp bladed glove appeared over it. He then ripped off his suit revealing a more battle appropriate outfit. A full black suit with a deep red-sash. Something that only could be described as a ninja.

"Well, I already wanted to do this myself...come Ikaruga, I'll send your head to the guildmaster!"

* * *

Ikaruga casually cut the blades from out of the air as her enemy crawled across the ceiling towards her. With a flick of the wrist she cut the ceiling, however she still missed her target.

The man completely vanished Ikaruga quickly scanned the room before slicing a random part of the floor.

"Damn it!" Izanagi jumped from out of the shadows nearly avoiding being cut in two.

"I know about your magic Izanagi, to hide in the shadows waiting to strike. Do you honestly think I would be that careless?" Ikaruga lowered her stance, before glancing at her blade.

The sword she was using clearly wasn't made for her style. The hilt and blade was both too big and the weight was off. Against a normal opponent this wouldn't have been a big deal.

But against Izanagi, the person that was just one rank below her it could be a problem. It didn't help that she still hadn't fully recovered from the tower.

"You were always annoying with that kind of thing." Izanagi sat up, "but even you must know that if you want to kill me you have to make the first move." The man gripped the couch as Ikaruga's eyes twitched.

Once again, without warning the space Izanagi was once occupying had a giant gash on the ground as he dived behind the couch. With a single swipe of her blade the piece of furniture was torn to pieces, but Izanagi was no where to be seen.

To jump from shadow to shadow like a snake, that was what his ability was. The man knew he couldn't beat Ikaruga head to head, but then again an assassin that fought like that...was worth less than trash.

"He...has to be somewhere." Ikaruga lowered her stance. She noticed the sun peering into the window casting a harsh shadow on almost every object. She probably picked the worst time to fight him.

"...There you are!" With a swipe Ikaruga cut a vase as Izanagi jumped out. He flinched as Ikaruga prepared another attack, but right before she could the man smiled.

"The greatest thing an assassin can do is kill their target without having the target even realize they are dying...something you forgot."

"Gah..." Ikaruga's eye twitched as a blade was embedded into her shoulder. The wound itself wasn't deep but there was something about it.

"You should know, even objects can be hidden in the shadows...and that's not the only thing." Izanagi grinned.

Ikaruga's arm flinched as the a shadow slowly crept across her left eye. She groaned gripping it. It seemed that her vision had completely faded from it.

"What having trouble seeing?" Izanagi laughed. Before examining his enemy. "My shadows are covering your eye, that is what I can do with a single cut...the second hit will make you completely blind!"

Izanagi lowered his stance, looking at Ikaruga's eye. He dashed towards her left side being far more aggressive than before as the swordswoman turned her body.

She had a blind spot now, something she would have to be aware of. Not only that she would have to be wary of any more traps her enemy would try to spring on her.

As Izanagi dashed towards her again she lifted her blade blocking his blow, with another flick of her wrist she cut him in two... at least that is what appeared to happen.

"What?" His image slowly started to fade away as she felt something cut her right shoulder.

"Kekekee...you should have known better than that." Izanagi appeared once again in a completely different location. This time stepping out of what seemed like a random chest in the middle of the room.

"A...fake," Ikaruga winced as shadows started to cover her right eye as well as Izanagi laughed.

"You're completely blind now right?! I could make you suffer from I'm not interested in torture." Izanagi lowered his stance preparing to move in for the kill as he noticed something strange.

Ikaruga started to tap the flow as Izanagi crossed his arms.

"Have you gone insane or something? Shehehehe, whatever!" Izanagi dashed onto the walls before crawling on the ceiling. He was directly above her. He was about to split her down the middle. She would die without even realizing what happened.

As he was about to swipe however he noticed something odd. Like his body got lighter for some reason. His eyes widen noticing his arm was missing, not only that but there was a large gash in his stomach nearly splitting him open.

Ikaruga simply took a step to the side as Izanagi fell his arm landing a few inches away from him.

Ikaruga sighed, the darkness that had taken her eyes vanishing as Izanagi coughed.

"If you had used one of your traps again I may have been in trouble, but in the end you couldn't resist trying to take my life yourself." Ikaruga looked down at her dying enemy. "Did you not say a true assassin would be able to kill their enemies without them even realizing it."

Izanagi stopped for a moment before laughing. There really wasn't much he could do at the moment but lie down and die. "T-this doesn't ch-change anything..." Izanagi coughed again spilling blood onto the floor. "Death Head Caucus has already gotten all the magical energy from this tower."

Ikaruga pointed her blade to his head. "What are they using it for?"

"Wouldn't you like to know..." With those words the light faded from the man's eyes as Ikaruga sighed. It seemed that she was too hasty with her blade and lost some valuable information because if it.

She took a look at her wounds ignoring them before the door leading into the room suddenly opened. The pinked haired woman lowered her stance before realizing who it was.

"Hey, bird lady! I'm here to help!" Hud came marching in before looking at Izanagi's body lying in a pool of blood."What? The fight is already over?"

"Unfortunately..." Ikaruga sheathed her weapon. "I assume you took care of Den?"

"Yep, he wasn't strong at all. Now the only thing we need to do is find the others and get out of here."

Seilah and the others must have been nearing the plans conclusion by now and there wasn't much left to do with the tower only thing that was left was to leave.

As Hud and Ikaruga exited the room and entered the metal hallway again something was off. All the cells had been opened and a large sum of guards were laying on the ground barely moving.

"Great, Seilah already finished getting everyone out!" Hud laughed as Ikaruga examined the guards. A part of her wondered if it was alright to leave them alive, but it really didn't matter at that point.

The two of them continued to rundown the hall hoping to find the other four.

* * *

"So you're saying that this tower is made from pieces of the Cube?" Seilah restated as Lamy nodded.

"Yes, luckily I did manage to grab some material for the chamber, but I don't think this piece of the cube is usable as a whole." Lamy held up the bag, it seemed to have been filled with some sort of stone.

Seilah's gaze then shifted to Fukuro, she honestly never met such a odd looking human before. "I assume you are the 'special' inmate that Ikaruga was talking about.

"Aw, I see so you already spoke with her." The owl man crossed his arms as Seilah chuckled.

"Of course, currently our guildmaster is with her...speaking of which." Seilah looked down the hall to see a waving Hud, beside him was Ikaruga who's expression lightened ever so slightly when she noticed Fukuro.

"Aw so you are still alive." Ikaruga smiled as she and Hud finally stopped.

"Of course do you think something as weak as this tower would be able to take out a warrior of justice!" He laughed as the small plant like creature that had been on his shoulders jumped off and landed on Hud's head.

"Hud, you're back!" Frlea grinned as Hud nodded.

"Yep, and the warden and the guards have been taken care of." Hud smiled before glancing over to Seilah. "So did you manage to get everyone out of here?"

"Yes, there actually weren't that many people trapped inside. I assume it was because they mostly took people from the surrounding towns and villages. I have also discovered that there are four exits and entrances to the tower." Seilah stated as Hud laughed.

"Hahaha, you're pretty amazing, but how did you do it?" Hud asked as Seilah chuckled.

"I decided to use the guards to open all the cells then use Macro on the inmates to move their bodies to the exits. From there I took control of one of those strange beast and have them fly them back to the town."

"Gosh, that sounds like a lot of work!" Hud eyes widened as Seilah sighed.

"That because it was, regardless. If we are finished here it is best that we make our way back to the place where we entered. I the last of those horrible beast are there and I don't want to be here any longer."

"What about the tower itself, don't you think we should try and destroy it?" Frlea asked as Lamy quickly shook her head.

"N-no, even if it is a small part of the cube, trying to destroy it could result in far more damage than we would suspect." Lamy pointed out. "Plus now that it has been cleared out we can return to this place for materials anytime!"

It probably wasn't the most convenient way to do it, but having a location that they could farm pieces of cube no matter how small could be rather helpful.

"We can think about this once we've made it to safety." Ikaruga pointed out, it seemed that no one disagreed with her as they made their way back to the cliff side.

Just like Seilah had told them, one last winged creature was waiting for them. The all somehow managed to fit inside of the basket around its neck as the creature took off flying way from the mysterious tower.

"Ah...hot, hot, hot! It's way too hot!" Lamy started whining again as Fukuro simply laughed.

"This heat is nothing. One should be able to take this much if they are going to be a hero of justice."

"I don't want to be anything like that!" Lamy quickly shot back as Frlea chuckled.

"Yeah, she is better at being a dumpster."

"D-don't say that, people might get the wrong idea about me." Lamy whined again as Hud just laughed not noticing Seilah and Ikaruga who were both remaining relatively quiet during the trip.

The finally reached the town once again. The sun had been setting and the moment they took a step back onto the ground they noticed the slew of people greeting their loved ones.

Seilah snapped her fingers, releasing all the humans from Macro. She then ordered the beast to fly as far away as possible before taking a deep breath.

Using Macro as she did would have been straining even when she wasn't in her weakened state. However to take control over so many people even for simple task was challenging to say the least.

"Hahaha, you guys actually did it!" A small familiar boy came walking up to them dragging an old man behind him.

"Oh, hey Snee." Hud casually waved as the old man coughed as if clearing his throat.

"So, you're the guild that saved most of us..." the old man straightened his back before smiling. "This small town doesn't have a lot, but if there is anything we can do for you don't hesitate to ask."

There was a moment of silence as Hud closed his eyes and crossed his arms before finally deciding. "Do you guys have any food?" Before the old man could answer the question Lamy quickly spoke.

"Furniture, furniture, furniture!" Lamy waved her arms in the air not forgetting their plight back at the guild house.

"Some new clothes would be acceptable." Ikaruga added the last bit as the old man laughed nervously. A part of him wasn't actually expecting any of them to actually take up his offer.

"W-well I'll see what I can do..."

The moon shined above the town as a large fire was raging in the middle. Above it was one of the strange beast that flew them back and forth between the tower and town now roasting in the middle.

The villagers was humming to themselves, as they sat around the flames carving into the beast and serving it for everyone.

Hud sat closest to the flame taking a large bite out of the piece of meat he was given noticing the shockingly relaxed atmosphere. Frlea was teasing Lamy, Fukuro was posing and Seilah was just staring up at the moon.

"Do not worry, I did not forget our agreement." Hud heard a voice as he turned to see Ikaruga standing above him. She was still wearing her prisoner uniform.

"Iwafafn."

"Please finish chewing before speaking..." Ikaruga corrected him as Hud did just that.

"I thought they were making you new clothes." Hud stated as Ikaruga sighed.

"My taste were a bit...complicated so it won't be finished until tomorrow. But like I said I have not forgotten our deal. For now I am a member of Demon Fang...of course Fukuro will be coming as well."

"I don't mind, is that the other requirement?" Hud asked as Ikaruga shook her head.

"No, the other part was you must help me destroy Death Head Caucus..." Ikaruga stated as Hud nodded.

"Sure, I don't mind helping you beat up those cactus guys, but there is a few things I have to do for Seilah first...though considering how random everything has been I don't know which will get done first!" Hud laughed as if it wasn't a big deal as Ikaruga glanced over to Seilah.

"That would be?"

"Finding the fairy that beat her up or something. I tend to forget things a lot!" Hud laughed as Ikaruga groaned.

He probably wouldn't be the worst employer she has had, but a part of her had a feeling he would be difficult to work with.

 **Author note**

 **This was a bit of a tough one to write. The next two chapters are probably going to be the conclusion to this arc. Though I am worried that I am making my arcs a bit too short/fast.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7  
**

 **What do we do next?**

"Ah, I never thought I'd be happy to see such a rundown place." Lamy dropped to the floor rubbing her face against the floor. While the guild house still had a lot of problems it was better than running around a dark and depressing tower.

"Hey...it's not that bad," Hud entered after her placing down a bag nearly five times his size. The contents were pieces of furniture. Four bed, a couple of chairs and a few tables.

For a normal person such a thing would have been impossible to carry, but for Hud it felt closer to a stack of paper than anything important.

As he threw it down, the rest of the guild members entered the building. Seilah, Frlea, Fukuro and Ikaruga stepped in.

"I suppose beggars cannot be choosers." Ikaruga sighed at the...less than stellar living conditions as she dusted off her newly formed dress.

"Come on, let's put this stuff up right quick!" Hud grinned as he started to move the beds and furniture around the room. Seilah taking notice on how he arranged everything.

It was very...neat, or rather there was a pattern to how he did so. He put the two beds in the corner of each room before making sure there was an equal amount of chair's and tables between the two halves of the building.

Despite being an idiot, it seemed that even Hud's mind had a way of structuring things so it made sense. At the very least so it was appealing to everyone.

"Is everyone good with this? You don't have to worry about having enough beds, me and Frlea don't mind sleeping on the floor." Hud laughed as he finally sat down at one of the tables.

"So, what are we going to do now? I have enough materials to work on the tube but it will still take a bit of time..." Lamy pointed out as Seilah sighed.

At the moment it seemed pointless to continue to go after parts of the cube. Even as a demon she didn't have anyway to transport it. and until Lamy was finished crafting a replacement for the hell's core it was dangerous for either of them to go into battle.

"We are finished going after the cube pieces for now...at least until Lamy is finished with what she had to do." Seilah replied as Hud crossed his arms and smiled.

"Gosh, that's unfortunate...because I have no idea what to do next." Hud just laughed causing everyone in the room the groan. He really was a worthless guild master.

"If we truly have nowhere to go at the moment, may I purpose something?" Ikaruga asked as she glanced at her sword. The blade had already been chipped, to call it cheap would have been an understatement.

"Sure go ahead." Hud stated as the pink-haired swordsmen nodded.

"On the edge of Mistral, bordering Fiore there is a small base housing magical items. From what I have heard a recent war with the Alvarez Empire a lot of magical items are probably being stored there."

"I see..." Fukuro replied, being the first to get what Ikaruga was talking about as Hud tilted his head.

"I don't get it..."

Ikaruga sighed. "This blade I am currently wielding is cheap, it will most likely break the moment I get into a serious battle. I need a better weapon if I'm going to be able to serve this guild properly."

"Oh, in that case let's go!" Hud cheered, it seemed that he was already prepared to go on another adventure as Seilah eyes narrowed.

"Very well, I'll command a beast to follow your every instruction when you are ready to leave." The black haired demon stated as Hud frowned.

"What, you're not going?"

"Of course not, not every single member of a guild needs to go on every single mission. Plus me and Lamy need to make sure everything is finished by the time you two return."

She had a point as Hud looked over to the man with the owl head. "Oy, you're going right Fukuro?"

"Of course! As long as there is evil to be punished then I shall go anywhere." The man quickly replied.

Frlea wanted to point out that going somewhere to steal something didn't sound very heroic, but decided not to burst the man's bubble.

"Well, you know I'm going with you Hud!" The plant monster laughed as he jumped on his friend's shoulders hanging off like he usually did.

With that the team was decided, it would be Frlea, Ikaruga, Fukuro and Hud going.

"Alright, now let's go!" Hud cheered before pausing for a moment..."Um where are we headed anyway?"

"At least wait until we got a location before shouting that!" Frlea quickly pointed out as Ikaruga continued her explanation.

"The name of the city is Keeppe, the city itself isn't well guarded, but the places like the church and other military facilities are most likely going to be swarming with Rune Knights."

"Rune who?" Hud had the same idiotic expression on his face. Honestly his question actually surprised Ikaruga, even if he had been living under a rock he should have known who they were.

"They are guards of the magic council...in a sense. They are rarely strong and due to recent events they have lost quite a bit of power and influence." Ikaruga stated as Fukuro continued the explanation.

"They are weakened due to the events of the war they are currently going through reorganization. Honestly now would be a best time to strike them."

Hud remained silent before closing his eyes. "...This sounds like a bunch of boring human stuff, can we hurry up and punch something?"

"D-did you even listen to a word that we said?!" Fukuro nearly screamed as Frlea laughed.

"It's pointless, Hud won't pay attention to anything that doesn't interest him. After all, the only thing important to Hud is things that he finds fun!" Frlea remarked as Ikaruga sighed.

"Regardless, we aren't leaving right now anyway. We need to make proper plans, this mission will probably take more than a couple of days and we need to make sure we have enough money and an escape plan." Once again Ikaruga was talking about boring things.

"So when are we leaving?" Hud slowly guided the conversation back to the main point.

"I suggest at sunset, that way we would make it to the city by morning. From there we can check the building and find a way anything goes smoothly then we shouldn't even be noticed."

To be an assassin one must be able to kill their targets without the victim even realizing it. The same applies to stealing things, honestly a part of Ikaruga wondered if bringing Hud was a smart idea.

There was no doubt about his strength, in fact in terms of sheer destructive power and speed Ikaruga knew he was the strongest one there. However, both of those things were near useless when it came to stealth.

Knowing Hud he would probably just try to breakdown the front door the moment they arrived, getting their names and images plastered everywhere.

"Alright, that's fine by me. It lets me and Frlea get some last minute training in."

"Wah? But we just got back..." Frlea whined as Hud simply smiled.

"Don't be like that, we are monsters after all, we have to set a good example for the others." Hud grinned walking out of the makeshift guild hall along with his friend.

"Oh, before I forget...would you like me to enhance you guys with demon particles." Lamy asked.

"No..."

"S-so blunt!" Lamy was taken aback by their quick reply. They didn't even hesitate to shoot her down. Though she didn't bother to ask why, it must have been a pride things she didn't understand.

"Let's go Fukuro, we need to make arrangements for the trip ourselves." Both Fukuro and Ikaruga left the room leaving Lamy and Seilah to themselves, something that Lamy hated.

"So...Lamy, have you figured out anything of note yet?" Seilah eyes wandered towards the bunny eared scientist as Lamy gave a nervous laugh.

"W-well nothing on resurrection, but I have figured out something about monsters." Lamy was quick to point out what achievements she did make as Seilah rolled her eyes.

"Go on then..."

"Alright, it seems that monsters like Hud and Frlea are completely immune to all types of curses no matter how powerful they are. At least that is what the conclusion I reached from my research." Lamy stated as Seilah grumbled.

She had expected as much when Macro had no effect even on the small plant monster. It seemed that their immunity had nothing to do with strength. Rather just a natural immunity, similar to how certain animals are immune to poisons that would kill a human.

"Is that everything?"

"N-no," Lamy was quick to continue. "It seemed that demon particles are also destroyed when they come into contact with them. I actually took a part of Frlea's and Hud's DNA and exposed it to the demon particles in the tube. It's...bizarre, it's almost like monsters are a natural counter to us demons..."

In a sense it was terrifying. Curses were created to be superior to magic in every way, but here was these natural born creature that was just...immune to it. Not because of their strength, but because nature dictated as such.

It would also mean that the only way she would be able to harm monsters is through sheer physical force or or pure magical energy. Something that Seilah didn't like doing.

"Lamy, when will this be finished?" Seilah stared at the tube, a single tentacle twitching in the fluid.

"Um, I can't see it taking more than three more days." Lamy stated as Seilah sighed, she was tempted to go into the tube right at that moment, but things had to be done in a certain order.

"That is fine, will I be able to regain more of my strength through it?" Seilah asked as Lamy nodded.

"Yes, but you have to be careful. If I alter your body and your strength too much you will become a different being in a sense. Nothing about you will change, but you won't be able to take back your body from that woman if we change it too much."

Seilah didn't understand what Lamy was getting at, but...

"That doesn't matter, if I can become stronger than my old body than recollecting it is meaningless. If it does get to the point where I can no longer rejoin with my old body then the satisfaction of killing her will be more than enough."

Still, that was still quite a ways off. They technically only had six members, five of which were useful in combat. Even then, Seilah didn't really know how to go about doing so.

Though all of this could be figured out once they had the proper amount of members. At the current time it was nothing more than a idea that needed development.

"Now if you excuse me, I must prepare a beast for the others to ride on..." With that Seilah left Lamy to her own devices as the bunny eared demon sighed.

The idea of her being alone with Seilah for over two days didn't sound appealing whatsoever. Plus...honestly Lamy kind of liked being around Hud, her had a certain aura around him that drew people towards him.

Or perhaps she was treated so poorly before that even such basic interactions seemed nice.

Regardless of the reason, she would have to do her part to make Demon Fang amazing even if it was just by a little.

 **Author note**

 **I wonder if these short in between chapters are of any use. They used to set up the next encounter and arc, but its mostly just a lot of characters talking to one another. Also, I will probably do something with Lamy and her ability, despite she probably won't be in the next arc.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8  
**

 **What is a guild?**

"Oy, is this the place?" "Hud pointed into the distance at a town near the sea. The sunrise pierced the four eyes, it was just as Ikaruga had said. They arrived at their location in the morning.

"We should land a ways away...I do not think the people of that town will take kindly to a giant wyvern landing in the middle of town." The Pink haired swordsman pointed out as Fukuro scoffed.

"Such an entrance would be fitting for a hero of justice, but not the best idea for our tactics."

Frlea grumbled. "You humans and your tactics, come on Hud. Let's land this thing." Frlea tapped the top of his friend's head as Hud did the same to the wyvern. The moment it did it slowly drifted downward towards a group of trees allowing the four to get off.

"Alright, we are going to come back tomorrow right at this spot." Hud pointed to the ground as the creature nodded. It seemed that even if Seilah wasn't there the commands was still going through.

"It will probably take us an thirty minutes to get to the town from here..." Fukuro pointed out. Not that he minded, it gave him some time to think of plans and escape routes if need be. "Once we reach there we will spend the rest of the day examining parts of the town. From there we will get an inn and prepare to strike that tonight."

"You have this whole thing planned out huh?" Hud laughed before he continued speaking. "That's good, I'm glad I got someone so smart in my guild!"

"Of course, you must be smart to be a hero of justice. Plans are important to overcoming any difficult foe!" Frlea nearly gagged at the comment as the four of them started to make their way.

As they walked Ikaruga couldn't help but think back to the events at the tower and how Hud's so called guild was ran. It lacked any real form of structure or hierarchy or even guild marks. Even then from the looks of it, most of the members was out for themselves.

Ikaruga eyes narrowed at the small plant creature riding Hud shoulders. "Frlea was it?"

Frlea turned his head all the way around without turning his body. Even if he was a plant it was still somewhat unsettling as replied. "Huh, what is it?"

"Can I speak to you about something?"

Frlea just shrugged jumping from his friend's shoulders and onto Ikaruga.

She was taken aback by how heavy he was. She didn't expect him to be light, but he weighed far more than what his size suggested.

"What's up?"

"This guild...demon fang, you're the oldest member here are you not?" Ikaruga asked as Frlea puffed up his chest.

"Of course, I've known Hud for years."

"Why did you join?" Perhaps it was too blunt of a question...or perhaps the answer was obvious.

"Why do you ask?" Frlea shot back with another question.

"It just seems...most people in this guild have their own way of doing thing. It doesn't feel like a cohesive unit in the slightest."

"That is just because everyone has their own goals..." Frlea paused before he continued. "As a human, what do you think a guild is?"

Ikaruga began to speak, but stopped herself. She actually didn't know how to answer the question. So many different people viewed guilds different that having a catch all definition was pointless.

"I can't answer that right now..." Ikaruga replied as Frlea nodded.

"That's fine, some people think it's just having fun and protecting one another...but I think that is far too simple. That kind of thinking breeds mediocrity, having goals, not connected to the guild pushes you further." Frlea words were...rather interesting. Almost the opposite of another guild that Ikaruga knew.

"So, this guild is to push ourselves?" That is what Ikaruga got from Flrea's statement.

"In a way, if the person next to you can't do as much as you then, you need to slap them in the back of their head and tell them to shape up!" Frlea pointed out as Ikaruga chuckled.

"I can see you are the smart one out of the two of you." Ikaruga gave a compliment as Frlea shook his head.

"No, Hud would have told you the same thing. Well, in a different way of course...plus I can't disagree with the comment about everyone having different goals. That demon woman is pretty shady and the bunny trash bag is annoying, but Hud wouldn't have picked them if he didn't think they were strong in their own way."

The conversation with Frlea shined some light on the type of creatures he and Hud were.

Still, Ikaruga had to rephrase her question. It was less about why Frlea joined the guild now, and more...

"What is your goal then?" Ikaruga spoke as Frlea chuckled.

"Well, I don't have much desire to become the strongest like Hud. I just want to become beautiful, the most beautiful thing in the world."

It wasn't too strange for a plant to want something like that even if it was a relatively simple simple dream.

"We're here!" before the conversation could continue Hud cheered breaking through the thick bushes and revealing a trail leading straight into town.

At that moment Frlea jumped off Ikaruga and back onto his friend's. However before they actually entered Fukuro stopped himself.

"Stop, before we go in their is some precautions I must do." Fukuro placed his hands together.

"Huh why?" Hud tilted his head.

"As you can see Fukuro has an head of an owl. That's not really something you can walk into town with and not get some looks." Sure there were the strange creature and Celestial Spirit, but an owl head would still turn some heads.

Fukuro placed his hand together, no doubt he was preparing some kind of transformation magic...that was until he pulled out a paper bag and put it over his face.

"..." Ikaruga remained silent, wondering if the bag had some sort of magical property.

"W-wow, you look like a guy with a paper bag over his head! No one will be able to recognize you now!" The way that Hud replied so earnestly made it clear that he impressed.

"I-it even got two eye holes to see out of!" Frlea shared in his friend's excitement as Fukuro let out a cry. It seemed that Ikaruga would have to take back calling Frlea smart.

"As you can see, this tool can only be crafted by the hands of a warrior of justice...I can make you two some later if you wish."

"No way, really? So cool!" Hud cheered, as the four of them stepped into the city of Keeppe.

There was a strong smell of salt in the air as the sun was finally up in the sky. The town was just as Ikaruga had described, a small one. Most of the houses were made of wood and even the locals had a rather bare look to them. Mostly wearing thin pieces of clothing that were brown and blue.

Hud then noticed the large amount of fishing boats at the docks. "Wow, being here kind of reminds me of all the fishing we did back at the Great Pond at home." Hud smiled as he was about to wander off.

"Monster, please do not forget to keep attention off of yourself. Plus don't forget we are meeting back at the inn in a few hours." Ikaruga almost sounded like their mom as Hud gave a casual wave, Frlea still on his shoulder.

"What an odd guild master..." Fukuro stated as Ikaruga sighed.

"We don't have time to worry about that. Those two will most likely just goof around, so it will be up to you and me to actually do the research." Ikaruga pointed out as her eyes scanned the surrounding area.

The town wasn't too large, and most of the major buildings could be seen. The assassin's eyes focused on the large metal building in the back. It was easily the largest structure in the town with a fence guarding it.

On the front was a large symbol of the magic council. However that wasn't the concerning part.

"Fukuro stakeout the church for a bit, I'll handle the base myself..." Ikaruga stated as the owl-man nodded.

"I never thought I'd be doing something like this again." Fukuro turned around as Ikaruga smiled.

"I feel the same way, even if we aren't assassinating someone this is till something that should be done perfectly. We have our pride as S-rank killers after all..."

With that Fukuro walked away, vanishing into one of the few alleys the town had. Thus leaving Ikaruga with the task of checking out the base.

She weaved through the town between and around the buildings. Even if it was during the middle of the day keeping getting past people without them noticing was her specialty.

As she got closer to the building she hid behind a nearby crate peeking over ever so slightly. She wasn't about to jump the gate, not yet...after all there was still Rune Knights unloading things.

She looked at the steel containers they were carrying into the building. Ikaruga assumed at least a few of those items were the ones from the war. Her eyes then glanced over to something out of place.

A group of women standing next to the men watching them carry the items inside. Ikaruga eyes narrowed as the first thing she noticed was that they had a guildmark. The second the she notice was what kind of guildmark it was.

"Mermaid Heel..." Ikaruga groaned. She didn't have much connection to the guild, but just them being there made things far more complicated.

They didn't prepare to fight an enemy guild, and the only reason they would be there was to protect the building.

It seemed that the Rune Knights weren't as incompetent as Ikaruga thought. However now was not the time to be commending them, at the very least she could make note of the enemy guild.

Ikaruga scanned them. She couldn't get closer without someone noticing her, but she could make out basic features of each of them.

One was a thin green haired woman with large dreadlocks. Her outfit was rather jarring to say the least, having an obvious spider motif. Which clashed heavily against the next mage.

Next to her was a small petite woman with freckles on her face. She clearly had a country look going for her.

After that was a shorter chubbier woman. She almost looked like she could have been one of the locales considering what she was wearing and her hair style.

The next one was an odd one however. A cat woman with ears and a tail, her outfit had paw prints on the bottom. Though calling what she was wearing a full outfit was a bit much to begin with.

And finally what Ikaruga was a woman wearing what seemed the be a formal military uniform...except for the small ribbon tied to appear almost like bunny ears. However as Ikaruga noticed something else, the sword that was to her side.

"Archenemy..."Ikaruga whispered those words. It had been a blade she had her eye on, but not one that she was after that day.

Still the idea that a random woman from a guild had it was shocking. It also made it clear that the mages before her had at least a basic threat level.

Just as Ikaruga was about to leave she noticed the swordsmen look over to her as her eye twitched. She quickly ducked down behind the crate grumbling.

"I need to be more careful...still, they also have five members and we only brought four." Ikaruga sighed, if the two groups got into a head to head battle they would naturally be at a disadvantage.

Not only that she had no information about any of their abilities. Either way it was something else she would have to plan for.

* * *

"Hmm, is something wrong Kagura?" The cat woman tilted her head as the black-haired woman shook her head.

"Nothing...just make sure you get some rest today. We are going to be guarding this place all night after all."

* * *

"Gosh that sounds exciting!" Hud grinned as he took a bite of the piece of meat on a stick he had bought. The four of them had met back up at the inn as Ikaruga grumbled.

"Do you even understand what I am saying? An enemy guild is here and that makes things far more difficult."

"Yeah, I know...it would have been boring if nothing tried to stop us!" Hud laughed as Fukuro crossed his arms.

"Perhaps it would be best if we postpone and reevaluate our tactics."

"Nah, that is impossible. The creature that Seilah gave me is going to be back later tonight, and if we aren't there then the curse will run out...at least that is what she told me." Hud pointed out. He didn't really know the specific of curses, but then again he was a monster. That kind of thing was worthless information to him.

"So in other words we either do this tonight or make things far more difficult for us later on..." Ikaruga responded, after all the wyvern was their only way back. Not only that, even if they decided to go back the items that were there would most likely be moved when they tried again.

"Huhuhuh, you humans always worry about pointless things. Don't forget you have two monsters on your side." Frlea chimed in.

Their overconfidence was both annoying and refreshing. Despite how foolish it was to go in with such a basic plan. It wasn't like any of them were weak, but it still put the former Death's Head Caucus on edge.

"So how are we going to do this?" Hud asked as Fukuro replied.

"I recommend two teams, one team will do their best to go around the back of the base while the other one will try to sneak in from the front. It may be difficult, but if the information that Ikaruga gave us is correct it shouldn't be too difficult for one team to make it in." Once Fukuro finished as Ikaruga continued.

"Once inside try to find any bladed weapons that you can. Though you are free to take anything you think you can carry. One we are finished don't bother trying to find us, just head back to the forest."

It was a basic plan, after all. There was a very high chance that they were going to be spotted and it wasn't like they could just head back to town once they got everything.

"So how are we going to split up the teams?" Frlea asked as Hud crossed his arms.

"I'll go with Ikaruga, you and Fukuro can go together." Hud stated as Frlea pouted.

It was clear that the plant creature wanted to go with his friend, though there was no use complaining about it.

"If that is what you wish...what's more important is which team will tackle which entrance." Ikaruga replied.

"Me and the plant monster will handle the front." Fukuro stated as Ikaruga raised her brow.

"Oh? I suppose that makes sense..."

Neither Hud nor Frlea really understood what was going on, but it seemed that Fukuro was planning something. At least that is what the could make out from the bird-man's limited facial expression.

Ikaruga then looked out the window, the sun was setting. "It seems like it's almost time for us to start..."

It didn't take long for the sun to completely vanish from the sky as Ikaruga and Hud was the first ones that left the inn. Even if it was rather early Ikaruga doubted anyone would be still be out. Not in such a small town.

Hud decided to follow Ikaruga's lead as they jumped on top of a rather small house before hopping from building to building. The closer they got to the Rune Knight base the slower they proceeded before finally jumping down back onto ground level.

Just as Ikaruga had expected, there were some guards patrolling the area. There was two even standing in front of the main gate.

As the pink haired assassin peeked past the corner she could hear an audible sigh coming from Hud.

"Gosh, this is boring...can't we just break through the front?"

Ikaruga just glared at him for a moment not even bothering to dignify him with an answer. She then took out her blade, scanning the area for any other guards beside the two that were around.

"If it's from this range...even with a sword like this." She slowly unsheathed her sword her eyes narrowing. With a single swipe Hud felt something flow through the air.

"Gah!" Without warning one of the guards collapsed.

"W-what th-" With another small cry of pain the guard next to him fell as well, the gate splitting open just wide enough for the two of them to slip through.

"Wow those guys got hit by something like that? They must have been pretty weak." Hud put his hand on his hips as Ikaruga motioned him towards the gate. They didn't have a lot of time to waste before one of the other Rune Knights noticed something was wrong.

Ikaruga made sure not to kill them, in an operation such as the one they were doing murder made things far more complicated down the road.

As they set foot on the grounds Ikaruga and Hud quickly made their way to the back side of the building. They were completely out in the open without any hiding spots.

However it seemed there was no one on top of the building looking down, meaning that there probably really was only a few more guards protecting the front and the back.

"Do you think that Fukuro and Frlea have left by now?" Hud asked as Ikaruga smiled.

"Yes, in fact I have a feeling we will be seeing them soon."

* * *

"Hey, Owl man, what is taking us so long?" Frlea whined as he sat on Fukuro shoulders. They were outside behind the inn Fukuro simply looking towards the sky.

"It as been far too long since I've done this...but it is time for the hero of justice to fly once again!" Without any warning Fukuro posed as two large rockets appeared on his back.

"Wa-wa-what!" Frlea eyes widened as he saw the two large metal cylinders. There was a small puttering sound as flames started to appear from the bottom of them.

"S-so cool!" If only for a moment Frlea put his pride as a monster away and looked in awe.

"Impressed? You should be, but it's not over yet!" At that moment the flames fully ignited as Fukuro flew into the air. He went as high as possible, mostly to avoid being spotted as he flew towards the direction of the Rune Knight base.

"Ah, well this is really cool and all, but won't we be spotted?" Frlea pointed out as Fukuro shook his head.

"No, we are too high for that, and as we get closer I will simply adjust my speed. Once we get close I will land on top of the building, from there we should be able to find an alternate entrance."

Despite how enjoyable it would have been to crash through a bunch of guards that wasn't why they were there.

As they got closer to their location Fukuro slowly started to fly lower, finally having a birds eye view of the base. However, one he had, he noticed something strange. Besides the front and back entrances there was a lack of guards anywhere.

"That seems strange..." Fukuro continued to fly as something even stranger happens.

"W-what?" Fukuro stopped narrowly avoiding a projectile that had just flown past them. He was less surprised that they were spotted and more what kind of missile they had narrowly avoided.

It was a giant carrot...not only that, but a swarm of them were coming from the ground.

"T-this must be gods for when I kicked the Carrot family out of their home!" Frlea cried giving no context to his fears as Fukuro casually dodged the vegetable assault.

"We should be fine, we are already close enough to the building to be able to land safely...even then this are merely carrots." Fukuro pointed that out...right before one of them actually manage to hit him in the stomach.

It wasn't like getting hit by a giant carrot at all, rather it felt like a giant steel anvil hit him as it caused him to flip allowing more of the carrot missiles to pelt him. Without warning he and Frlea fell towards the base ground landing with loud thud.

"Owowowow," Frlea pulled himself out from under Fukuro as the owl man lifted himself. Despite the blows he had received he didn't suffer from any serious injury except perhaps his pride.

"Wow, Kagura was right...they were going to try everything to get in." Someone with a thick accent was speaking as the dust from Frlea and Fukuro's fall finally cleared.

Standing before them were three women. One in overalls, the next wearing a skin tight suit with webbing across it, and finally a short and chubby woman.

Frlea was expecting them to boast and introduce themselves like most would do in such a situation. Instead all three of their gazes shifted to Fukuro as they gained a horrified expression.

"W-what is that thing?!"

"A-an owl-man?"

Fukuro froze as he moved his hands to his face. "That is strange, I still have my mask on...how can you see through my disguise?!"

"You idiot, even if you have a bag over your face you are clearly have an owl's head!" The chubby woman instantly corrected him as Fukuro completely removed it crossing his arms.

"I suppose it doesn't really matter at this point. I am shocked that you knew we were coming from the sky."

"That was simple, the leader of our team told us to keep a look out for anything that may come from the sky since she and our other member was going to handle anyone that actually made it in."

Fukuro remained silent. Even with his strength staring down three mages would be a problem. He turned his head to see Frlea grumbling to himself.

Neither had seen the other fight, perhaps it would have been a better idea to actually have gotten some information on their partner before rushing into battle.

"What do you guys want? We already know two more of you broke in earlier..." The green haired woman crossed her arms.

At the very least they confirmed that Ikaruga and Hud actually made it in.

"Nothing that an evil-doer like you needs to know." Fukuro stuck a pose as Frlea jumped back onto his shoulders before whispering into his ear.

"So, what's the plan?" Frlea asked as Fukuro quickly scanned his three enemies.

"Let's see what kind of magic they have, then I can make my move."

"Fine, I'll make sure nothing touches you then..." Frlea eyes narrowed as Fukuro widened his stance.

"Justice Ho Ho Hou!" Fukuro reeled his fist back his fist.

"W-what kind of stupid name is that?!" Frlea cried as Fukuro was already taking aim.

The green haired woman eyes widened as she and the freckled girl moved. The chubby woman simply chucked bracing herself.

At that moment he let out was seemed like a blast of hair towards her.

"Fine let's have it!" Fukuro let the attack out as the woman was stuck by it...but instead of being flung back she merely skid against the ground slightly as if she was too heavy to move.

"Don't forget about us!" The green haired woman cried as she positioned her hands as web like fluid came shooting out.

Frlea scoffed as he raised his legs, fines sprouting from his lower body stopping the webbing almost instantly. At that moment Fukuro jets started once again as he flew into the sky.

"Beth!" The web woman shouted as the freckled girl placed her hand on the ground shooting more carrot missiles towards them.

Fukuro dodged them as he realized each one of their abilities...all except the chubby woman who was still holding her stomach, it seemed despite not moving her his attack still had some effect.

"I've spotted my prey." Fukuro's missiles roared as Frlea tilted his head.

Without warning Fukuro shot towards the chubby woman who glared at him.

"Don't look down on the chubby!" She crossed her arms as the stone beneath her started to break. Once again it seemed like she was increasing her weight. She was expecting another blow...instead Fukuro eyes widened as well as his mouth.

"Huh, what ar-" Without warning Fukuro scooped the woman into his mouth forcing her down his throat.

"..."

Not only was the two woman were speechless at the scene, even Frlea was startled by the scene.

"H-he ate Risley!" The freckled girl nearly cried, tears forming in her eyes as Frlea flinched.

"A-are you really human?!" Frlea had to ask that question again as a small tuft of black hair appeared on Fukuro forehead.

"You bastard...let her go right now!" The web woman shot even more webbing as Fukuro flew up in the sky once again.

"I'll gladly let her go, after all this isn't what I am here for. Plus her ability isn't of any use to me...so I must defeat you in nine minutes." Fukuro then crossed his arms. "It should be simple for a hero of justice!"

* * *

"Did you hear that, I think Frlea and Fukuro got caught." Hud said as the sounds of battle echoed through the court yard.

"No matter, at the very least they can offer a distraction." Ikaruga responded as she placed her hand against the metal wall. She took out her blade slicing through it perfectly.

"I could have just punched it you know." Hud pointed out as Ikaruga shook her head as the two of them finally stepped inside.

"If I let you do that then we would have been swarmed by gua-" Ikaruga stopped herself as she noticed dozens of footsteps coming from down the hall. After a minute nearly two dozen Rune Knights appeared before them.

"Trying to do this quietly completely failed huh!" Hud took a step forward as the guards raised their shields.

"G-give up, your completely outnumbered!" The guard's hesitation was all that Hud needed as grabbed shoulder. He then started to rotate his arm as if it was a helicopter before letting out a blow.

His fist didn't even make contact with them, Hud merely punched the air and the force was enough to knock all the guards back, knocking them through a couple of steel walls.

"Shshshshs, I've been working on that for awhile...I should really learn how to get that out faster."

Ikaruga eyes narrowed. There was not even a hint of magic in his last attack, he really did just use pure physical might to blast them away. Not only that, but he did it so casually, as if he was swatting a bug.

"Regardless, now that we have been spotted we need to hurry up." Ikaruga pointed out as Hud nodded.

The two of them made their way through the twisting building. Most of the rooms looked the same, and it was apparent that there were a couple of floors they were going to have to look through.

Despite that, beside the guards that had attacked them when they broke in, no one was around. A part of Ikaruga wondered if it was some kind of trap.

After awhile they made it to a large circular room, with a spiral staircase leading up to the next floor. The room was far too spacious to have been used for anything practical. As if someone had emptied for some reason...

"...!" Ikaurga's hand twitched as she noticed Hud eyes narrowing. Without and provocation Hud jumped as she ducked, what felt like a light breeze passed between them as the steel wall behind them was nearly cut in two.

"The fact that you two realized you were being targeted...I'm impressed." From the back of the room a woman appeared, the same woman that Ikaruga had saw earlier.

"Huh, who are you?" Hud frowned as the woman pressed her blade against the ground.

"I am Kagura Mikazuchi of Mermaid Heel, and I will be the one that will defeat you."

 **Author note**

 **Another slower chapter, now that I think about it. My arcs so far are kind of small and personal. Also deciding what guild would be the enemy guild was kind of hard.**

 **I didn't want them to be complete jobbers, but also none of the large major guilds yet.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9  
**

 **VS Mermaid Heel  
**

The woman that was before Hud and Ikaruga lifted her sword. Her blade still sheathed as Ikaruga grumbled.

This was the kind of situation she wanted to avoid, she glanced over to Hud before looking down at her battered blade. Even with her magic taking on someone with the blade known as Archenemy was problematic.

"Hud, go on ahead and grab any sword you can. If I know the Rune Knights it will most likely be on the top floor.

"Wah? But I want to fight..." Hud pouted as the woman took a step forward.

Honestly Ikaruga was tempted to give her guildmaster his wish and let him handle the swordswoman before her. However she wanted to check something, and she had a feeling that Hud could cover more ground regardless.

"Hud, we aren't here for that...plus if you leave quickly and come back with the weapon. Now listen, the blade I'm looking for as a blue and white hilt and is quite long. If you remember that you should be able to find it..."

Hud pouted, but Ikaruga had a point. The faster he went and find the weapon the faster he'd be back in the battle.

He then glared at the ribbon wearing woman before lowering is stance. The woman finally prepared her blade.

"Here, I go!" Without saying another word Hud dashed towards the stair case as their enemy eye twitched.

"Fast...but." She went to raise her hand but before she could she jumped, the area she was standing at was cut to shreds as Ikaruga took a steep forward.

"Is it not rude to ignore the enemy standing before you?" Ikaruga smiled as Hud quickly climbed the stairs vanishing to the next floor.

Now that she was certain Hud was out of the way she could focus on the task at hand. Though the girl standing before her had familiar look to her, she couldn't quite place it.

"Who are you?" Kagura demanded as Ikaruga simply sighed looking to the side.

"I think it'd be in both of our best interest that I decline to answer that...rather I am far more interested in where you found such a weapon?" Ikarurga replied as Kagura simply remained silent.

"Then I guess we are finished talking..." Ikaruga gripped her blade. Despite her attitude she had zero confidence that her weapon would last or the duration of the battle.

"...!" Kagura eyes twitched as she instantly crossed the meters between her and Ikaruga in an instant.

She slammed down her sheathed weapon as Ikaruga barely was able to lift hers. In that instant the two clashed, sparks flew as scars and cuts started to appear on the walls and floor of the room.

Ikaruga felt the metal in her weapon starting to bend. As she thought a regular sword was not equipped for that sort of thing.

"...Garuda Flame!" In an instant during their clash Ikaruga twisted her body as a ring of fire appeared around her. Kagura bit her bottom lip as she jumped back, a wave of flames running through the room destroying the back wall.

Ikaruga didn't expect the attack to hit. Rather it was to create distance between her and her foe. She glanced at the common sword, the tip of the blade melted by her own magic.

Kagura not deterred by the attack prepared to rush she was forced to dodge. Once again an invisible cut appeared where she was standing, this time at the very least her leg was scratched.

Ikaruga would not let her foe get any closer, she couldn't. Something about her enemy's fighting style made her nervous.

So, to keep the pressure up she continued to use her magic, flicking her wrist cutting apart any where Kagura landed. She knew she couldn't win with such a tactic, but until Hud came back with the tool she needed it would do.

* * *

"Man, there is so many doors..." Hud sighed as he casually tore through another metal door throwing it away. Inside was even more items and weapons of interest. It was almost like a secret treasure room.

Hud looked at the bag that he was given, it was large enough to fit quite a few things, of course his first priority was swords...but.

"It wouldn't hurt to pick some stuff up for Lamy, she'd probably be into this useless kind of junk." Hud laughed as he continued to look around before a particular weapon caught his eye.

A pure white sword, with what appeared to be a bronze sun on the hilt. Normally he would have just thrown it into the bag simply because it was a blade. However there was something odd about it.

"A...soul?" He tilted his head.

Monster had the natural ability to not only sense souls but what kind of souls in a living creatures. Normally it was a useless ability, as most creature could be identified just by looking at them.

However in this situation Hud was drawn to something that clearly shouldn't have a soul. He tilted his head lifting the weapon before shrugging and placing it in the bag.

"That's everything in this room...now for the next!" Hud smiled as he grinned tying the large bag on his back. To any one else it would have been cumbersome to move in, but not for Hud...he was a monster after all.

As he made his way down the hallway he felt a shiver go down his spine. At that moment he leap from the floor to the ceiling clinging to it like some kind of spider. A strange tube like string traveled through the hall hitting the wall.

"Dang, I missed!" A whine came from the other end as a woman with cat like features finally showed herself.

Hud tilted his head, despite looking somewhat like a monster she was no doubt human. Perhaps humans had far more varied looks than he first thought, after all if Fukuro was considered human a girl with cat ears and tails couldn't be too far off.

"Gosh, who are you?" Hud let go of the ceiling landing back on the ground as the cat woman.

"Do you really think the person going around stealing things have the right to ask something like that?!" The cat woman made a good point as Hud shrugged.

"Well, I'm kind of in a rush so...later." Hud seemed to have completely missed the point as he turned away.

"You idiot! I meant I was going to stop you." She almost let out a harsh cat like noise as Hud turned back around and scanned her.

"...Aren't you a little weak to be doing something like that?" Hud was curt with his response. There was no joy in his voice, he just stated what he assumed to be a fact.

The cat girl eyes narrowed for a moment. She stopped herself getting upset to actually take note on her enemy. She couldn't sense any magic in him at all, but yet he almost seemed to have teleported when he avoided her first attack.

Without saying another word, a small magic circle appeared in front of her as another long tube was sent flying towards Hud as he once again simply moved out of the way. This time attaching himself to a nearby wall.

"You aren't going to hit me with something slow like that..."

The cat girl frowned. He was right, she was going to have to increase the speed of her attacks...or at the very least.

This time the woman lifted one of her hands sending a far smaller tube towards Hud...however this time Hud didn't even bother moving and just let the attack hit him the tube like rope wrapping around his body.

His eyes widened for a bit as the magic constricted him as the cat girl gave chuckled.

"Newo, newo, newo! Why did you just stand around like that? Did you get tired or something?"

"Well, you really wanted to hit me with that, and I thought it would be pretty sad if I beat you up without at least seeing what it did..." Once again his innocent tone made it feel like he was mocking her.

"Whatever, now that I have you bound this next attack will finish it." She lifted both her hands the glyph that usually appeared was now a deep dark purple. "Kitten Blast!"

Hud eyes widened as a blunt ray of light left her hands striking him right in the face. She smiled the moment the attack made impact...but.

"Huh, did you do something?" Hud tilted his head, his arms still bound, but there wasn't even a single mark on him.

The cat girl froze. The attack hit him for sure, yet here he was not even a mark on his body. It was at that moment she realized that she was in trouble.

"N-no calm down, as long as he is bound he can't use ma-"

At that moment she heard something shatter. Her eyes shifted back to Hud who was stretching, pieces of her tube fell onto the floor vanishing with a flash of light.

He had broken free as if her magic was just cardboard.

"That could be useful against another human, but to a monster it's kind of worthless huh?" Hud laughed as he stretched again. "Maybe if it had a bit more force behind it, it could have hurt but..."

Hud was once again about to walk away as the cat girl winced. It was painfully clear that the...thing in front of her was out of her league. However she wasn't about to back down, not after the promise she made to Kagura.

"Wait!" She called out removing her gloves as Hud turned around still holding the bag in his hands.

"I can't let you go any further. For a promise that I made to a friend that I wouldn't let anyone leave with anything!"

"...Wow, I don't think someone as weak as you should be making that sort of promise." Hud expression was blank as she winced.

"I'm Millianna of Mermaid Heel! I'm in the top five of our guild, I won't be ignored so easily!" Perhaps she was taking after Kagura, but she still had her pride that needed to be intact.

Hud didn't respond as Millianna rushed him. Her nails out, she was positive if she could land just one blow...

"Scratch attack!" She lunged towards him, the last thing she saw was his eyes narrowing before the sound of something breaking entered her ears.

"Gah!" She winced as she flew past him face first on the ground. All of her nails was shattered blood dripping from her finger tips, the pain of someone having stepped on her ribs pulsating through her body.

"Millianna huh?" Hud picked the bag back up before smiling. "Well, you weren't strong but I had a bit of fun. So if you want to fight me again you can go ahead, I'll always be waiting!" Hud walked by the fallen Millianna preparing to finish his own promise.

* * *

"How long do you plan on keeping this up?" Ikaruga frowned as she continued to swing her blade trying her best to keep not to grow tired herself.

Even if her sword was of poor quality, no one had been able to dodge her magic for so long. It seemed that the blade capable of causing calamities was in the right hands.

"That is something I should be asking you..." Kagura replied bluntly as her eyes focused on Ikaruga's hand.

"W-what?" The pink-haired swordwoman's hand stopped, as if her blade had gotten heavier regardless Kagura took her chance dashing towards her foe.

Ikaruga winced finally able to lift her blade and her leg. However it was too late, her blade was cut in two, as she felt her enemies blade cut through her side.

Ikaruga body stiffened as she fell to her knees blood dripping from her body.

"At that last moment...what did you do?" Ikaruga glared as Kagura shook her head.

"At this point it is pointless to tell you. I should also mention that if you are expecting your comrade to return it is pointless. He has most likely been defeats by no-"

"Ikaruga, I'm back!" Hud cheered as he jumped down the spiral staircase not even bothering to use the steps.

Both women's eyes widened as Hud looked at the scene that was in front of him.

"What? No way, you lost? That's no good for someone apart of Demon Fang you know!" He casually spoke the guilds name as Kagura eyes narrowed her focus no on the monster boy in front of her.

"You, how did you get by the mage that was guarding those items?!"

Hud looked at her for a moment before laughing. "Oh, the cat lady? She was pretty weak so I beat her pretty quick."

Kagura eye twitched as Ikaruga chimed in.

"Monster...did you get the sword?" Ikaruga struggled to stand as she held her wound as Hud rummaged through the bag for a moment pulling out the sword that Ikaruga had asked for.

"We need to leave now!" Ikaruga demanded. They got what they came for after all, but instead of following her statement Hud just casually threw the swords towards her.

"You can run away and meet back up with Fukuro and Frlea if you want, but I'm staying and fighting. It's not like she is just going to let us leave even if we wanted to." Hud refocused on Kagura as she closed her eyes.

Ikaruga groaned, it wasn't like she was in a position to complain about it. She lost her battle for the time being and it was time to see if Hud really was worthy to be a guildmaster.

"Then I'll leave the rest to you..." Ikaruga grabbed the blade dashing towards the exit.

"I won't let you!" Kagura vanished, her prey was weakened and she knew she would be able to strike her down before Ikaruga even made it half way.

She appeared above the pink haired swordswoman, her blade aimed at her before finally swinging...however the weapon never made contact with her intended target.

"Oy, your fighting me now!" Hud gripped the sword with his bare hands stopping the full force of the blow.

Kagura jumped back, cursing herself as Ikaruga successfully escaped.

It didn't matter, her enemy for the time being was the strange boy in front of her. She scanned him, he didn't have any weapons on him, nor did she sense any magic either.

Yet he was able to stop her blade with just his hands...

"Who are you?"

"Ah, well, I'm Monster Hud..." Hud replied quickly as he stretched getting into a battle position. "I lost to the Salad Squad a ways back and I have a feeling that fighting you will make me stronger!"

Kagura brushed his words aside. If he really did defeat Millianna then she would need to end the battle quickly and check on her friend.

And so the strongest member of Mermaid Heel and the strongest member of Demon Fang stared each other down.

Hud lifted his arms as Kagura brought down her weapon. The floor underneath of him cracked as the swordswoman grumbled jumping back.

Hud blocked the blow without a weapon, a strike that was strong enough to shatter metal. Whoever he was, he wasn't an enemy that could be dealt with quickly.

Kagura lowered her stance once again as Hud tilted his head. Without another word she dashed towards instantly clearing the the distance between her and her foe.

Despite her movements Hud nearly dodged every single one of her swipes. The ones he wasn't able to dodge he casually blocked. It was apparent that he wasn't taking the fight seriously.

"...!" During their exchange Hud's eyes widened as he lifted his hand, his palm open.

"Wh-" Kagura eye twitch as she felt a blow similar to a sledgehammer hit her side as she was flung into a nearby wall denting the metal. She winced as she quickly scrambled to her feet.

"W-what was that? I couldn't even react in time..." Kagura's eyes widened as Hud grinned.

"Wow, you really are something else. I was always told humans were pretty fragile, but you're still standing after that!" Hud smiled as he stretched, he then lifted one arm while keeping the other close to his side. He widened his stance as Kagura gripped her weapon.

She glared at him preparing to strike...when suddenly.

"Gah!" She let out a cry of pain, she felt someone digging their heels into her arm as she was knocked away again.

Hud had kicked her once again, as she skid against the ground. She took a deep breath, her arm luckily wasn't broken but...

"Is there really that big of a difference between our speed?" She glared as Hud prepared another.

Once again he vanished from her sight, however this time she was prepared. Even if she couldn't naturally react to such speeds she could still make a guess where the attack would land.

So she lifted archenemy near her had as a clanging noise was heard.

"Huh?" Hud eyes widened as he fist shook. He tensed his arm knocking Kagura away. "I didn't expect you to actually block that, you just got a little better didn't you?" Hud smiled.

"You..." Kagura didn't really know what to say, but she did understand how Millianna was defeated by such a terrifying monster. He wasn't even using magic yet he was able to outclass her in sheer strength and speed.

As much as she wanted to draw her weapon, now was not the time. After all, if he didn't have magic then he most likely didn't have a counter for her next move.

Kagura placed her hand on the ground as Hud eyes widened.

"What are you do-" At that moment Hud fell to his knees, he felt a huge weight on his his back. He struggled to stand back up as he took a deep breath.

"The fact that you are still able to move at all is impressive but..." Kagura changed her stance dashing towards him.

"D-darn it," Hud lifted his hands blocking most of the blow as his shirt was torn open.

Kagura continued her assault not stopping for a moment. There was a notable difference in both Hud speed and power...yet.

"He's still managing to keep up despite such a handicap." Kagura didn't know if to be impressed or shocked. Regardless she took a stabbing stance her blade preparing to strike as she lunged forward striking Hud's chest.

He winced as he slide back the blow feeling like a wrecking ball.

"I think it might be best for you to give up...you are at a clear disadvantage." Kagura was saying it less for his sake and more for the fact that she was worried about her comrades.

Hud patted his chest for a moment before grinning. "What are you talking about, this is the kind of fight I've been waiting for! This weight...if I can surpass it I'll definitely get stronger!"

Kagura lifted her blade once again, however this time Hud took a deep breath. He then lifted his head towards the sky and gave a large shout.

At that moment all the glass in the building shattered as Kagura froze, her body unable to move. "W-what...I can't move my body..." It was as if someone had vibrated the fluids in her body, she was feeling physically ill.

Hud didn't even have to think, he took his chance and kicked her in the stomach causing the swordswoman to cough. It felt like her organs were about to shatter as she was sent into a wall once again.

"Man, that kick should have been way harder, this weight is really getting to me..." Hud winced as he started to stretch again. "I guess it doesn't matter, I don't think she is going to get up from that."

Hud didn't even bother to check on his opponent as he walked over to the bag he had tossed to the side putting it over his shoulders.

"I should find the ot-" he didn't finish his statement as he felt something collide with his head. A blow with enough force to send him flying completely ejecting him out of the building.

"Gah..." He winced as he slide onto the courtyard of the building. He held his head, as he noticed his back was towards the sea.

"To lower your guard like that, you must think quite poorly of me..." Kagura words were cold as she walked through the hole she had just created.

"What? You can still fight?!" Hud words were genuine as he got back up making sure the bag of stuff he had was still in one piece.

"Of course, you must still feel the effects of gravity change right? If you do then it is clear that I'm still capable of going on." Kagura then looked past him, staring out into the ocean.

"There is nothing out there...not for a good few miles." Kagura was spouting something random as Hud placed his hands on his hips.

"What are you talking about?" Hud tilted his head as Kagura gripped her blade holding it tightly.

"Vanish..." Without warning she unsheathed her weapon as a large wave swept through the courtyard cutting the stone in half.

Hud barely had time to react as the wave dug through the ground and split the sea, the attack continued to go on for miles stone and water was flung into the air as a thick layer of dirt completely covered where Hud was standing.

Kagura could no longer see her enemy, no doubt he was swept away by her attack as she took a deep breath.

"I wasn't able to use it earlier due being so close to the town..."

Archenemy, a weapon that could cause a calamity once it was unsheathed. A power that she wasn't the fondest of using, but she couldn't afford to keep playing around.

"I need to f-" Kagura wasn't even able to take a step as she felt something grab the back of her head slamming her face into the ground, no, it was more than that. The attack had enough force to make a small hole where she was standing completely sending her into the dirt.

"Gosh that was pretty wild..." Hud stretched, his body was covered in cuts and bruises and most of his clothes were torn, but despite that he seemed unharmed.

"...!" Hud eyes then widen as he felt the weight that was on his body lessen greatly. "Hey I can move normally again!" Hud smiled jumping up and down before looking down the hole.

He couldn't see the bottom of it, a part of him wondered if his opponent was even still alive...though that really wasn't his problem anymore.

"She was pretty strong for a human, I can see why Ikaruga had trouble with her." Hud picked up the bag once again preparing to leave before he heard something coming from the small crater he had left.

"This battle is not over yet..." Hud turned his head to face the voice as he saw Kagura climbing out of the hole. Despite the damage she had taken it appeared that she was still willing to fight.

Hud grinned tying the bag around his neck before getting back into position. "This is great! Fighting you is really fun!"

Kagura didn't return his words as she prepared her weapon. Even if Gravity Change had worn off Archenemy had been unsheathed. Her blows would be far more destructive.

However, before the second round could begin the sound of a rocket entered their ears as they both turned towards the sky.

"Ah, Fukuro and the others..." Hud eyes widened as he noticed Fukuro flying with a rocket on his back, he was carrying both Ikaruga and Flrea under his arms.

"H-he's flying, that's so cool!" Hud nearly cheered as Kagura growled. Reinforcement was the last thing she needed to deal with.

"Hud! We really, really need to go!" Flrea called out to his friend as Hud pouted.

"What? No way, the fight is just about to get good!" He called back as Ikaruga glared at him.

"This isn't up for discussion..." Ikaruga glanced over to Flrea as the small plant monster nodded. His arms and legs then extended towards the ground wrapping themselves around Hud.

"W-wait!" Hud protested but his words were ignored as Fukuro turned around flying in the opposite direction, Hud being dragged through the air behind them.

Kagura prepared to give chase before stopping herself. In both her current condition, as well as the condition of the building it would have been pointless...no matter what she did at that point it was clear. The mission was a complete failure.

What was important at that moment was checking of the rest of her team was alright.

First she went back towards the front of the damaged building to see Arana, Beth and Risley all tied up by vines completely unconscious. Risley in particularly had a rather horrified expression across her face as if she had seen something truly horrifying.

She bit her bottom lip as she cut them out of their binds placing them against the nearby wall. It was apparent that they had been defeated a bit earlier, perhaps at the first sign of intruders.

"Now...I need to check on Millianna."

* * *

"Gosh, why did you guys have to do something like that? The fight was about to pick up!" Hud complained as the four of them walked through the clearing as Ikaruga sighed.

"That wasn't what we were there for in the first place. Plus you yourself told us that we didn't have all night and our ride back would leave without us if we took too long."

Hud sighed, Ikaruga was right on both points, still...

"I hope I get to fight her again. She might not have been as strong as the Salad Squad, but I got stronger from fighting her."

They then entered the forest Hud's noise was in the air sniffing the surroundings. He lead the four right back to the exact position they landed in, there was the wyvern they arrived on waiting for them.

"Finally, we can go back to the guild house." Frlea gave a tired smile as he jumped back onto Hud's shoulders as the two of them got on. Fukuro followed before finally Ikaruga.

The pink-haired swordswoman winced as she the side of her stomach.

"Oh, that's right. Are you okay Ikaruga?" Hud had almost forgotten to ask, she was cut during her battle with Kagura and it had almost completely slipped the young monster's mind.

"Yes, I am fine...Frlea stitched the wound with his vines and I am already feeling much better." Ikaruga pointed out as Frlea couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course, my vines have natural healing properties to them. Your body will recover far quicker than if you used normal stitches." Frlea stated a fact that was good to know as Fukuro checked the large bag that Hud brought with him.

"Hmm, it appears that you brought more weapons and items with you than just the sword..." The owl-headed man then lifted the white blade as Frlea eyes widened.

"W-wah? Why does that sword have a soul?" Frlea asked.

After all, it wasn't just Hud that was capable of sensing souls. It was an innate ability that all monsters had.

"That's why I brought it along, I was wondering if Lamy could check it out for us when we got back." It was a simple plan, but still one that was worth trying. Plus if worst came to worst they still had a bunch of other magical items they could either sell or use.

"Very well, if we are finished here then I suggest we leave. If we stick around for too long then that woman and the rune knights will track us down." Ikaruga pointed out as Hud nodded.

"Alright then, let's go back home!"

 **Author note.**

 **Another fun chapter to write. A lot of action and I kind of wanted to throw a bit more comedy into the Millianna vs Hud fight, but couldn't really fit it in..or maybe I was just kind of lazy.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **Sunny Blush**

"We're back!" Hud cheered as he jumped down from the large winged creature. Frlea, Fukuro and Ikaruga did the same as the creature was finally released from Macro's control. It flew away as Hud stretched.

"I wonder what Seilah and Lamy did while we was gone..." Hud crossed his arms as they slowly made their way back to the guild house.

"Probably worthless demon things..." Frlea replied as they made it back to the rundown warehouse they called a home.

It seemed to have been fine, beside the fact that it was still falling apart. However it was mostly always like that.

Hud slowly opened the door as something instantly cling to him.

"You're back!" Lamy cried as she rubbed her face against Hud's chest tears rolling down her eyes. "S-Seilah has been the worst, she barely let me sleep or eat anything!"

Hud scratched his head as he noticed thee horned demon sitting in the corner on her bed reading a book. The tube in the center seemed more complete. The vines that was holding it together had vanished and the liquid inside of it was a completely different color than before.

"So, I assume everything went well?" Seilah closed her book turning to the four that had returned..

"Yep, though we ended up getting into a fight with another guild." Hud pointed out as Seilah eyes went towards Ikaruga noticing the red stains on her dress.

"It seems not all of you made it back unharmed...though I suppose this is to be expected from a human."

Ikaruga closed her eyes, Seilah comments were fair enough...then again. "Anyone in this guild currently really has no right to say such things, especially not a demon."

Seilah's eye twitched at the comment before composing herself. There was no need to get upset about it, after all the one with the scar was her.

"Regardless of all of that, what did you bring back?" Seilah asked bluntly as Hud put the bag down pouring all the contents onto the floor.

"It's mostly stuff Lamy would probably want..." Hud pointed out as Lamy looked through most of the objects.

"Ah, there is a pair of Gale-Forcing Reading Glasses." Lamy picked them up placing them over her face. "Usually I wouldn't use a magic item like this, but these can help a lot."

Hud looked over to Lamy tilting his head. "I thought demons used curses. How can you use magical items?"

"Magical items are different than using magic. Usually anyone, be it mage or not can use a magical item since the magic themselves are infused into it." Fukuro explained as Hud nodded.

"Well, I don't use weapons or items like that in battle so I guess they are useless to me!" Hud laughed completely missing their practical use as Seilah looked over the item haul.

"There are quite a few high quality weapons here as well, but..." Seilah's eyes looked over to the group. "We aren't really the weapon using types are we?"

She was right, besides Ikaruga none of them really used abilities besides their own magic, curses or physical strength.

"It may be best that we keep them here. These items of are high quality and I would like to test some of them." Ikaurga pointed out as Hud clapped as if he was reminding himself of something.

"Oh Lamy, I need your help with something!" Hud asked as Lamy's eyes widened as she removed her glasses.

"...You're asking me out right now? In front of everyone? I knew hot guys were bold but..."

"You idiot, that's not what he was about to ask at all!" Frlea cut in as Hud pulled out the long white blade.

"This sword is weird, it seems to have a soul or something and I was wondering if you could do anything with it?"

Hud handed Lamy the blade as she examined it. "Ah, well it is weird, but I don't really sense anything too odd from it, but..." She turned around taking a look at the miniature Hell Core she had created.

"If it really does have a soul I want to test something out..."

"Hmm, what do you mean by that?" Ikaruga asked as Seilah answered.

"Lamy has just finished using the cube pieces and created the first functioning Hell Core. While it is still far from where I want it to be, and it takes a dreadfully long time to charge to do anything we wish to give it a test run of sorts."

Hud looked blankly at the two demons. "I don't really know what any of that means, but if you can do something then do it!" Hud laughed as Seilah sighed.

At that moment Lamy pressed the panel in front of the tube as the water drained. The glass then rose as Lamy placed the sword on the panel before jumping back down.

The glass then lowered as Lamy pressed another button. "I should tell you, regardless of what the original species is the Hell's Core can only create demons. So even if the soul was something else before the body will no doubt be a demon. Not only that, but the original's image will be preserved unless I make alterations to it..."

"No one cares about something like trash bag, hurry up and start!" Frlea demanded as Lamy grumbled.

She then entered one last command before taking a step back. The container quickly filled with liquid before the sword started to break down as if it was in acid. Strange colored particles filled the area as a life form was slowly starting to form inside the tube.

Everyone's eyes widened as a new body was created.

A woman with shoulder length brown hair and a somewhat petite figure appeared before them as Lamy cursed herself.

"Man...why couldn't be a hot guy?" Lamy groaned as Seilah crossed her arms.

"It seems that the test for the most part was a success, sadly it will take a week before we can use it again."

Ikaruga looked in disbelief. "To think this is possible, demons truly are horrifying..."

Everyone continued to look in amazement...everyone except Hud who had noticed something.

"She's naked..." Hud stated the obvious, but he stated with the kind of bluntness that brought it to everyone's attention.

"As a hero of justice I was trying to avoid bringing it up..." Fukuro turned his head completely around as Hud nodded.

"Yeah, but I can even see her-"

"Stop! Don't say another word Hud!" Lamy cut her guildmaster off before her eyes slowly started to trail downward as well.

"Gah, now I can't stop staring at it either! Why couldn't it be a guy, at the very least then it would be something I would want to look at!"

"Regardless, we should take her out and get her dressed." Ikaruga stated before turning to Lamy. "Lamy give her a pair of your clothes, she probably can fit yours..."

"W-why do you say that?" Lamy quickly shot back as Ikaruga scanned the bunny eared demon's figure before turning her head.

"No reason in particular..."

"When you say it like that there has to be a reason in particular!" Lamy snapped but followed the directions given to her.

Once the girl was out of the tube and on the bed, they place a set of Lamy's clothes next to her, and speaking of clothes.

"Oh yeah, my clothes got messed up..." Hud looked down at his torn outfit before casually walking to the back of the broken down guildhouse. He then lifted one of the many floorboards before pulling out a large chest as the rest of the members stared on.

"W-wah? You had something like that this entire time?!" Lamy slipped across the room right next to Hud as she peeked over his shoulder as he opened up the large wooden container inside was...at least nine sets of the exact same clothing that Hud usually wore.

Lamy frowned disappointed as Hud laughed.

"Right before me and Frlea left our village my mom made me a bunch of copies of my favorite outfit." Hud smiled as he slowly removed his torn shirt and pants before changing into his new attire.

He patted his chest before stretching a bit. While Hud didn't mind being naked, he much preferred wearing something monster related.

"If you two are done, it seems that our guest is finally waking up." Seilah point out as Hud and Lamy rushed back over to the bed.

The girl gave a rather lazy yawn rubbing her eyes. "If I'm back that means we won right Heine?" She yawned again before opening her completely. What she saw was a much of weirdos staring at her,.

"Eh...?" A confused expression came across her face as Hud jumped up and smiled.

"Hey sword lady!" Hud stated as the woman gave a confused look before finally looking around her surroundings.

"This isn't the Alvarez Empire is it?"

"...Who's that?" Hud quickly shot back as Ikaruga took the time to explain.

"It is a large empire located far North East of here, they boast quite the military might. However due to their defeat nearly two years ago things haven't been going the best, and the current queen is having trouble."

"Queen? Ah, that must be lady Irene." The girl was about to sit up as Lamy stopped her.

"N-no, no, put on some clothes before you sit up!" Lamy insisted as she handed her the set of clothing she was told to get."

The woman looked at them and gained an expression that could only be described as pity. "These clothes are pretty sad looking, whoever picked them out probably has no sense of style..."

The woman said knowing full well that Lamy was wearing an exact copy of those clothes.

"W-what is that supposed to mean?" Lamy snapped as the girl pressed her hand against her own cheek.

"I mean...they look good on someone with a face like yours."

"T-that sounds even worse!" Lamy finished her statement as Hud laughed.

"Now that, that is all out of the way. Would you like to join my guild?" Hud instantly asked as he felt Frlea pull his hair.

"Idiot, you just can't ask someone that randomly. We don't even know if this chick can even do anything."

Despite the plant monster's comment the woman didn't reply right away. Instead she let out a sigh before smiling. "Someone from the Alvarez Empire joining a guild would be tacky...tell me did you find a black sword next to mine?"

Hud simply shook his head. "You were the only sword with a soul that I found..."

The girl closed her eyes before pouting ever so slightly. "Ah, Heine and me probably ended up getting taken away before Lady Irene could reconstruct us...still the idea of the Alvarez Empire losing the war is silly...are you sure you aren't lying?"

"No," Ikaruga pointed out. "Even ignore that part, we also don't know who the current queen is for sure. So I would temper my expectations to who you expect it to be..."

"Don't be silly, if there was an opening for the throne than Lady Irene would have taken it for sure. But...I should probably find Heine before I go back, so I'll join under three conditions."

The woman closed her eyes before continuing. "You have to help me find the black sword Heine. Once I do that you must escort us to the Alvarez Empire, and you have to take me shopping for new clothes and let me burn these ugly things!"

"W-what's wrong with my clothes?!" Lamy made a quick comment as Seilah glared at the brown-haired girl.

"What makes you think we would agree to su-"

"Sure!" Hud quickly replied as Seilah slapped in the back of his head. She didn't even need to hesitate. "Ow, what was that for?"

"You fool, going around making promises like that when you haven't fulfilled the first ones you've made. If you keep doing such things your tab is going to run far too high."

"W-what? I kept my promise to Ikaruga and got her the sword plus we are still collecting the cube things. It's not like I had been completely ignoring them..." Hud pouted as the demon groaned.

"Very well, just don't get too sidetracked." Seilah stated as the girl smiled.

"Not that we got all that stuff out of the way, my name is Juliet Sun and which one of you is the guild master?"

"Me! And my name is Monster Hud!" Hud smiled as Juliet laugh before giving a rather cheerful expression.

"Fair enough, you will be taking care of me for the time being. I doubt you will do as good of a job as lady Irene considering how rundown this place is. But if you were able to return me to this form you guys can't be that incompetent."

Juliet's thinly veiled insults caused Frlea's eye to twitched as Hud just laughed it off before turning to Lamy.

"Hey Lamy, could you take her shopping for new clothes since yours sucked so much?"

"Y-you two Hud?!" Lamy nearly started to cry as Seilah cleared her throat getting everyone's attention.

"Now that we are finished with that, I wish to talk about our next target for the Cube pieces. The next large piece is somewhere in Caelum and if possible I would like to leave in the next two days at the latest." Seilah asked as Hud eyes widened.

"Ah, that's pretty soon What's the rush?" Hud asked as Seilah groaned.

"The last two places we visited had others either seeking the pieces or already using them. I want to hurry up and find them as quickly as possible to make our lives simpler." Seilah stated as Hud shrugged.

"That's fine by me, we can leave tomorrow if you want."

"If that is the case I shall not be accompanying you on our next job." Ikaruga spoke up as Hud tilted his head.

"Why not?"

"I have not fully recover from my last battle. Not only that I wish to train with this blade for a few days. Not only that, but having more than six members in a squad could make it difficult to keep track of everything."

Hud was going to reply before remembering humans were far more fragile than demons and monsters. While he and Seilah could recover from such a blow in a day or two it may take longer for someone like Ikaruga to do so.

"Do not worry, I shall accompany you in her place." Fukuro replied

Hud nodded before turning to Juliet. "You want to come with us too?"

"Sure, it's not like there is much to do here anyway." Juliet shrugged. She had a better chance finding Heine somewhere else and not in the little beat up shack.

"Now that it has been decided, allow me to tell you our next destination..." Seilah said.

 **Author note.**

 **This was another between chapter. It goes without saying that the current queen isn't Irene...since she is a little dead. Though most people probably can already guess who the queen is. The chapter title is referencing Juliet, it was a** **Heine it probably would have been called the Tide Goes Out or something.  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **The Pure Water Town of Cewdeep**

"What a dreary place..." Juliet frowned as the group entered the town. A thick mist covered the entire area, and despite it being noon it felt like dusk due to how much of the sun was covered.

"Well, this is where the map tracked the cube piece." Lamy pointed out tightening the hood around her head.

They were all wearing cloaks or some sort of item to obscure their head and body. Less to hide their identity and more due to the odd shifts in weather they had been experiencing.

As they entered the town they looked around seeing the residents. They looked, normal a few of them were wearing heavier clothing while others were wearing something lighter despite the chill and the air.

Hud and Frlea looked at one another as they checked back to the people of the town.

"Hmm, is something wrong?" Juliet asked as Hud quickly shook his head.

"If you guys haven't noticed then we probably shouldn't bring it up..." Hud scratched his cheek.

It was strangely vague for him, Hud, who was rather blunt with his statements, was keeping something from the rest of them.

"If it's something boring then we can skip it." Juliet stated as they walked deeper into town noticing the canals flowing through most of the town towards the sea.

"Huh, it's like half of the city is water..." Frlea stated as Fukuro chimed in.

"We are in Enca, most of the towns and cities in this country have canals leading into the sea. I have been here before on a job, but...never to this town." Fukuro kept his hood over his face, but it was doing a horrible job at covering his features.

"Back at my hometown there is a giant pool of water leading back into the sea. The only way to get to the town is underwater or air though." Hud pointed out as Juliet tilted her head.

"Huh, is it underwater?"

"No, it's in a dead volcano. There is an opening under the base of the volcano where you can swim in and out of it. You can also come in from the top of it too." Hud corrected.

"That certainly does sound like a place where monsters would live." Fukuro stated as Seilah cleared her throat.

"As interesting as this conversation I think we are missing the point of why we are here." The demon glanced over to Lamy who quickly pulled out the map that she had.

"Ah, well the map isn't precise enough to tell us where the cube pieces but..." Lamy then dug her hand into her coat pocket and took out two devices. "Ta-daa~ the Lamy Artifact Manager, otherwise known as L.A.M!"

Everyone remained silent, as Juilet was the first one to speak. "Wow, did it take you all night to make that name?"

Lamy's eye twitched, she was starting to regret not making her into some ugly worm or dog.

"So how does this work?" Hud tapped the strange plate like device as Lamy quickly snatched it away before he could do something stupid.

"Let me explain it then." Lamy eyes narrowed before continuing. "It is a device that can track the cube's and other demonic items. If you are near one it should vibrate, if you are closer than that it will beep."

"You made two?" Seilah asked as Lamy nodded.

"Yep, if one broke we still have another one and now we can track in two groups." Lamy lifted one of her fingers as Hud grinned.

"Wow, you're amazing Lamy!" Hud said as Lamy face turned red as she scratched the back of her head.

"Stop, stop, saying stuff like that you're going to make me pregnant!" Lamy giggled as Juilet gave the bunny eared demon a playful look.

"You're pretty gross aren't you?"

"I don't need you to say that!" Lamy glared at Juliet as Hud and Seilah took the devices as they examined them. They had Lamy's face painted on the front with bunny ears on the top.

"I guess we are going to split up in two groups." Seilah replied as Hud crossed his arms thinking about the teams that they would split into.

"I guess the teams will be, me, Juliet and Lamy." Hud stated as Lamy gave a audible whine.

"W-wah? Why do I have to be on the same team as her?" Lamy groaned as the rest of the group ignored her.

"That means that the other group will consist me, Fukuro and Frlea." Seilah pressed her finger to her lip as she glared at Hud.

"W-what?" Hud frowned.

"Monster, you have a habit of getting distracted by pointless things...at least if I'm not present" Seilah said as Hud simply laughed.

"Don't worry about it, I won't ignore it. That's why I can split up the team like this since you're so dependable." Hud pointed it.

"Well...you are correct with that statement." Seilah didn't even hesitate to accept the complement.

"You aren't supposed to say that when someone's say something nice about you!" Frlea pointed out, as he jumped off of Hud's shoulders and onto Fukuro's.

The teams were decided as Fukuro spoke. "We should have a meeting spot, perhaps the town's inn."

"Yeah, that will be good. We really don't know how long this will take after all." Juliet pointed out as Lamy scoffed.

"With the L.A.M it won't take long at all!"

"That's exactly why it might take long..." Frlea comment as Lamy pressed her hands to her hips.

"Regardless, if everything has been decided we shall get a room at the inn." Seilah pointed out as she walked away the rest of her group following. Thus leaving Lamy, Juliet and Lamy to there own devices.

"Um, so where should we look first?" Lamy spoke as Hud smiled.

"Let's get something to eat!"

"That's not what I asked at all!" Lamy quickly replied, but before she could say something else Hud slowly started to wander away causing Juliet to sigh following after him.

As the two followed their guildmaster Juliet started to speak. "Oh, by the way Tamy I have a question."

"It's Lamy, and I'm not answering it!" Lamy shot back as Juliet continued her statement as if Lamy's reply was worth less than the dirt they were walking on.

"My eyes have been flashing red on and off, is that normal?" Juliet gave Lamy a sweet smile as Lamy sighed.

"It's because your a demon now. Your body is still probably getting used to everything, don't worry your eye color should return to its normal state..." Lamy stopped for a moment. "Speaking of which, why were you a sword?"

It seemed like they skimmed over that fact when they revived her, but it was something that should probably be addressed. After all swords normally didn't have souls in them.

"That's is..." Juliet wondered how exactly she would be able to word it. "Before, I was pretty much a being that existed by the will of Lady Irene. I didn't have my own body, but..." Juliet pressed her hand to her chest.

Thinking about it, she actually had a real body now. Juliet never really thought about it before, but she had her body no longer strapped to the magic of another. Even if it was a demon body it was still one of flesh.

"W-wait, a mage can just make a personality and attach it to an item?" Lamy questioned the possibility, sure it was possible for demons, but they were indeed demons.

"Of course, such a thing is trivial for Lady Irene...I'm sure she wouldn't mind meeting you, but she might destroy you for how gross you are." Juliet snickered as Lamy raised her arms.

"I-I wouldn't want to meet a freak like that anyway!"

Before the conversation could continue Hud called out to the two women.

"Hey, I found a place that smells pretty good, lets eat here!" Hud called out as Lamy and Juliet quickly followed him to the building.

Once they were inside they took note of how spacious it was. It seemed to have been some sort of bar with stone tables and chairs. Inside the same clothing discrepancy was visible. Half of the people were wearing what seemed to be summer wear while the other half seemed to actually be wearing clothes that suited the climate.

As the three entered and took their seat Lamy noted all of the other guest scanning them. Less out of malice and more as if they were checking something, after a minute their body language relaxed as someone finally arrived to take their order.

"What can I get for you three?" The woman smiled showing her abnormally large canine teeth.

"The biggest thing you have to offer!" Hud replied.

Lamy thought about it for a moment, "something sour would be good~"

Juliet looked over to Lamy as she gave her order before covering her mouth. "Gross..."

"What are you going to order then?!" Lamy snapped as Juliet smile.

"Sweet Pie, because it's something as sweet as me." Juliet replied as Lamy grumbled.

The woman wrote down the order as she looked back down to the three of them before saying something odd. "You know, you guys don't have to hide your true nature..." The woman said something seemingly random before walking away most likely getting ready to get their food.

At that moment Lamy and Juliet knew something was wrong with the town. Something was clearly wrong and they couldn't put their finger on it. Hud on the other hand seemed to have been simply enjoying himself.

"Hud what i-" before Lamy could ask the door to the restaurant opened again. This time two hooded figures walked in as everyone turned their attention to the new guest.

Like before everyone all the patrons turned to face them. However, instead of their bodies relaxing after a few moments they seemed to have tensed even more after the initial minute.

"Huh?" Hud eyes widened as he placed his hands on his pocket. He felt the L.A.M starting to vibrate. He then leaned over to Lamy whispering in her ear. "I think those guys have the pieces of the cube..."

The moment Hud said that Lamy's and Juliet's bodies tensed. Juliet eyes narrowed examining them before replying.

"They are mages, but don't don't look like much..." The two figures faces were completely covered by their cloaks, the only thing that could be made out was clearly a man and the other a woman.

"W-what do we do Hud?" Lamy asked as Hud turned his head slightly before crossing his arms.

"...Normally I would just try to punch them really fast but I think we should wait until they move or at least leave the building." Hud said as Juliet's eyes widened.

Was he finally thinking like a guildmaster, planning ahead and not wanting to cause a scene.

"Mostly because I'm hungry and want to eat first." Hud finished his thought as Lamy froze for a moment.

"T-that's not a good reason at all!"

"Don't worry, as long as we keep an eye on them it's fine." Juliet pointed out as she glanced over to the pair of mages before turning away.

At the time the only thing they could do was wait until the unknown threat made their move.

* * *

"I never thought I'd be staying at another human inn..." Seilah looked up at the small building, it was clear that the town itself didn't get too many visitors. Not only was it the only one in town, but it was tiny even compared to others she had seen.

"It's not that bad, the surrounding area was kind of damp, so sleeping outside of the town would have been way more trouble than it was worth." Frlea stated as Fukuro nodded.

"I cannot complain, such a thing would be unfitting of a hero of justice."

The three of them entered the building, Frlea stiffening his body to appear more doll like. That was his main form of hiding his identity as a monster after all, but something odd that Seilah noticed.

Despite being rather out in the open Frlea just now decided to take such a shape. Usually the moment they entered a town he would pretend to be a toy only breaking it when he knew for sure he wouldn't be discovered.

Then again, considering the owl-man next to her was just wearing a paper-bag over his face perhaps it was just the nature of the situation.

As they stepped inside they were instantly greeted by a small black-haired girl with a broom. Like half of the other residents she was wearing what seemed like summer clothes.

"Welcome..." She grinned as she scanned the three of them. However her eyes widened when she noticed Seilah. "W-woah she's so cool."

Seilah eyes shifted downward as she glanced at the girl. "May I ask who is the owner of this inn?"

"That would be me..." The group's gaze shifted back to the woman that looked like an older version of the girl they were speaking too. She was standing behind the desk.

"Gutrune, you really need to make sure the door is locked when I'm away..." The woman sighed as the little girl pouted.

"S-sorry mama." The girl winced as she quickly towards the counter, her eyes still glued to the three guest.

"I assume the three of you want a room?" The woman asked as Seilah nodded before a smile crept on her face.

While they did have enough Jewels to pay for it, it was no point in doing so. It would be a simple matter to use Macro and get it for free.

"Perhaps you'd like to give it to us for free?" Seilah smiled as the woman simply stared at the demon for a moment.

"Um, no I think I would like you to pay..."

Seilah twitched, she was certain she had used her ability as the little girl known as Gutrune chimed in.

"Maybe there poor? I think we should let them stay here for a while for free." The girl grinned as Seilah quickly shook her head.

"N-no, we have the money...I should also tell you we have three other people that will be staying with us." Seilah pointed out as she handed the woman a stack of Jewels.

She counted the money before giving the group a key. "Sorry, the biggest room I have only got has four beds..."

"That is fine..." Seilah pointed out as she noticed the small girl continuing to stare at her.

"Um, why are you guys pretending to be something you're not?" The small girl's bluntness caused Seilah to flinch.

"Gutrune, that's enough. Stop bothering them and make sure the windows are clean." The girl's mother quickly stated as Gutrune pouted and did what she was told.

Without any further discussion the three of them made their way to the second floor matching their key to the room. When they entered they were forced into a somewhat cramp room with four beds in each corner.

It was clear the room itself was made with fitting the beds in first and comfortable second.

After a few minutes of getting settled Frlea jumped down from Fukuro's shoulders falling onto the bed.

"Ah, being stiff like that is the worst..." The plant monster wiggled his arms as Seilah glared at him for a moment.

"Frlea...something is wrong with this town and you know it." She hadn't forgotten the comment Hud had made when the first arrived.

"Well you see..." before he could answer there was a knock on the door.

"Hmm, could that be Hud in the others?" Fukuro got up placing his bag back over his face before answering the door.

It was the little girl from earlier peeking into the room ever so slightly.

"Hi!" She waved as she noticed Seilah sitting on one of the beds along with Frlea who had returned to his doll like state.

She then stepped in, still staring at the plant monster before she laughed. "Mom will be angry if she found out that I was doing this, but I just wanted to tell you two that you don't have to pretend to be humans around here too much."

Seilah held her breath wondering what action she should take, a stark contrast to Frlea who simply took a deep breath and jumped up.

"I figured as much, the moment me and Hud set foot in this town we realized that a big chunk of it consisted of monsters and half-breeds." Frlea stated as the small girl nodded.

"Yep, Yep~ I can't read souls yet, but I can tell by those hoods and how you were acting that you were hiding something. But you don't have to if you are staying here." Gutrune turned her attention back to Seilah.

The demon hesitated to remove the magic hiding her markings and horns. However the way that Frlea was acting must have meant there was some truth to her statement.

Still, she didn't have enough information to do something so careless.

"I get it, you're shy. You probably came here to live in peace right, don't worry I'll show you first." The small girl without warning shoved her nail into her face, she then started to peel away her skin.

Her long black hair started wrap around itself turning into what seemed like thick tentacles. It didn't take too long for the girl to completely peel away her face revealing a completely new one.

Her skin was a bright pink with patches of white. It was almost fish like, she gave a toothy grin, her teeth being similar to that of razors.

"Welcome to Cewdeep, the town founded by Deep Ones and Humans!"

"You...are a monster." Seilah eyes widened as the girl quickly nodded.

"Yep, so you don't have to pretend here~" Gutrune bobbed her head back and forth as she continued to look at the demon woman.

Seilah had a feeling that the girl wouldn't leave them alone until she showed her true form. Seilah sighed as she removed her hood, her horns slowly formed on top of her head.

The girl smiled before continuing her statement. "This town is made up of mostly humans and deep ones, but other monsters are free to live here too!"

That sounded about right as Seilah looked over to the plant like creature that was sitting on the bed. "You knew about this, didn't you Frlea?"

The plant monster shrugged. "Pretty much, me and Hud didn't want to bring any attention to them since they must have been hiding for a reason."

"That also explains why half of the residents were wearing lighter clothing. They are most likely monsters that do not mind the weather..." Fukuro pointed out as Gutrune looked over at the owl-headed man.

"What kind of monster are you mister? I never really seen one like you..."

"Well you se-"

"That doesn't matter," Seilah cut him off as she continued her statement. "I should also tell you that I am not a monster, I am a demon..." Seilah decided to be upfront with the girl.

It wasn't like Gutrune could do anything and she doubted that the people of the town had a vendetta against demons.

"W-wah? You're a demon?! Did you come from a far off island?" Gutrune asked as Seilah sighed at the constant stream of questions. However while they were there perhaps it would have been wise to ask some questions.

"Gutrune right? Can you tell me if you have noticed anything strange around this town lately?" Seilah asked as the girl tilted her head. Her hair tentacles moved slightly as if they were matching her thoughts.

"Um, nothing too strange, but I do think a couple of humans is staying at this inn. Not only that but some of them have been walking around at night. So a lot of kids and humans have been told to avoid them if they are alone."

"A couple of humans..." Seilah pressed her finger to her lip. Could it have been some sort of enemy guild? Regardless if there were other outsiders then they needed to move with caution.

"Gurtrune, where are you!" A shout was heard from the other room as the small girl jumped up. She quickly rubbed her face as her skin turned to a more human complexion. Her twitching hair turned black before falling back onto her shoulders.

"Sorry, but please don't tell my mom about this. She would probably yell at me if I did..." The girl quickly left the room leaving the three members of Demon Fang to their business.

"Another guild...all the way out here?" Fukuro crossed his arms. "I suppose it's not a reason for concern for a hero like me..."

"Still, this isn't something that should be ignored. If they are here then they are here for a reason. I want to get this done as quickly as possible and leave." Seilah stated as Frlea nodded.

"I actually agree, it would be a pain if we start causing problems for the monsters of this town. We just have to hope that we can tell the others before anything happens..."

* * *

"T-they're still not doing anything..." Lamy whispered to Juliet and Hud.

"It is strange, coming into a place like this and not ordering anything..." Juliet frowned as Hud just casually ate his food paying little mind to the strange situation.

"Maybe they just wanted to sit down or something..." Hud chewed one of the bones from his meal as Juliet sighed.

"That would be stupid, not only that, but no one would go to a crowded place just to sit down. Plus look at what they are wearing, their hoods make it almost impossible to see their face."

Juliet pouted for a moment, either they were waiting for someone or hiding someone. Hiding in plain sight came to mind, even if their enemies found them they wouldn't be able to freely act without drawing some attention to themselves.

After all, they were in that situation. They couldn't confront the odd duo without risking a fight. Something that probably wouldn't have been a good idea in front of so many people.

"Well...they have the cube piece for sure, at they very least they have a demonic item. It's not like we can ignore them..." Lamy sighed as she set her plate to the side.

After a few minutes the waitress came by asking if they would like anything else before they paid for their meal. Just when it seemed the strange duo was never going to leave they hastily left their seats.

"Come on." Hud smiled as the three of them got up from their seat slowly tailing the duo.

"So...what now?" Lamy whispered trying to keep her voice down. It was rather clear they were following the two people in front of them as Hud crossed his arms.

"I guess we can just ask..." Hud replied as Juliet held back her laughter.

"Man, you guys don't know how to do sneaky stuff like this, maybe I picked the wrong group to go with." Juliet smiled as Lamy shot her a glare.

"Fine, what is your plan then?" Lamy replied as Juliet placed her finger on her lip before nearly skipping ahead of her companions towards the duo.

"Hey~ you two don't seem to be from around here huh?" Juliet smiled leaning head forward trying to get a good look under their targets hoods. However they quickly pulled their hoods down remaining silent.

"Aw don't be like that. We outsiders should stick together right?" Juliet continued quickly scanning their body for anything that could be what they were looking for. It was apparent that she wasn't able to sweet talk any information out of them.

So the next best thing was to steal the items without them even noticing. However, it was clear whatever they were looking for was under their cloaks. And while they had pockets it was clear that she wouldn't be able to slip her hands into them and take it.

However, now that she was closer she noticed a strange magical aura coming from one of them. Not from their own magical power, but rather from an item they were holding.

"You guys have something amazing on you don't you? Wouldn't it be easier to just show it to us?" Juliet kept her cheerful tone, but there was a strange hint of menace in her words as the strange duo finally stopped walking.

Hud and Lamy looked on, keeping quiet.

"D-did she actually convince them?" Lamy eyes widened as Hud remained silent his eyes narrowing.

"Huh, so you want to talk now~" Juliet smiled as the two hooded figures glanced at one another. Without warning one of them jumped back placing their hand on the ground. In an instant a large shockwave erupted cracking the ground apart heading straight towards Juliet.

The former Alvarez solider dodged as Hud and Lamy did the same. The force of the attack blowing the hood off of their enemy.

It was a woman with a dark complexion and white hair.

"Scruffy...you know what to do." The woman grumbled as her partner dashed towards the street.

"So much for being sneaky!" Lamy glared at Juliet.

"I guess they are our targets huh?" Hud replied as he chased after the the hooded man leaving the woman to Juliet.

Lamy eyes darted around noticing the inhabitants of the town looking towards them and the destruction that they had just caused. A part of her knew this was probably going to be the result, but it still was annoying.

"This is all your fault! So hurry up and fix it!" Lamy snapped at Juliet who ignored the bunny eared demon as she stared down her enemy.

"Do you have any idea who you are messing with?" The woman glared at Juliet.

"Oh, I do, that's why I know you're probably going to lose this..." Juliet smiled as the woman took a step back.

The woman glanced behind her noticing the canal behind her. Juliet then lifted her finger as if she was taking aim, but before she could fire anything the woman jumped from the street onto one of the many boats below.

Juliet frowned as the woman jumped from boat to boat, without waiting Juliet did the same chasing her enemy.

"W-we were supposed to keep a low profile you idiot!" Lamy called out as she chased the battle from the street above.

The white-haired woman glanced back noticing Juliet matching her every movement. She grumbled placing her hands on one of the boats before sending another shockwave towards Juliet splitting the water in the canal.

"I guess now is my chance~" Juliet leapt into the air, towards her enemy, her hands were open. She was directly above her enemy as she fired goop liked bullets.

"Tsk..." The woman grumbled, the attack was mere inches away from her face before something strange happened. She split into two both bodies completely avoiding Juliet's attack.

"Oh~ that's her magic..." Juliet smiled as more mucus appeared on her hand. She then flung it towards the nearest was as she pulled her body towards it sticking herself to the side of the canal.

"That's so gross!" Juliet eye twitched as she heard Lamy call out from above.

"I don't need to hear that from someone who isn't even fighting~" Juliet shot back as she glared back towards the woman.

It would have been annoying if she could keep splitting endlessly. Plus it was hard to tell which one of the clones even had the item on them, or if the woman even had it at all.

The woman and her clone was still balancing herself on the boat before noticing it slowly drifting apart. The impact of Juliet's mucus was enough to split the wooden boat in half.

Juliet then took her free hand and fired more bullets towards her enemy as the woman and her clone jumped away. Juliet groaned as she noticed one of them trying to make her way back to the street above as the other continued down the canal.

"I won't let you get away!" Juliet shot more of her mucus towards her enemy, however they all missed flying past her enemy.

"Ha, you dumbass! You missed by a mile!" The woman laughed, her personality being completely different than before.

"You're the idiot..." Juliet frowned, the woman didn't notice the mucus strand still connected to her fingertips. Juliet pulled her hand back, the bullets that were fired came back like a boomerang hitting the woman.

"Gah!" The woman felt a blow as the mucus wrapped itself around her body before she fell into the water.

There was no time to congratulate herself as Juliet turned her attention to the other clone escaping down the canal. Juliet jumped off of the wall towards her enemy. Once again her hands open firing more mucus.

"Don't really won't work~" The woman grinned as she landed on another boat preparing to split her body again to avoid the attack. However Juliet accounted for that.

As soon as the woman split again the mucus widened hitting both of them at the same time. Juliet closed her hands as the two clones were slammed together, getting stuck unable to move.

Juliet landed on the boat taking a deep breath. It took far longer than she thought and she ended up causing a big scene.

"If Heine was here she would have yelled at me." Juliet sighed before looking up at Lamy who appeared to have been out of breath from chasing the battle.

"F-for someone who was supposed to be sneaky you did a terrible job." Lamy pointed that out, and Juliet couldn't really counter her point. Though from had happened there was a pretty good chance that the battle was unavoidable.

Juliet jumped towards the boat where the woman and her clone was still trapped. Both of them was still struggling, but neither of them had the expression of someone that had just been captured.

"T-this is the worst, getting caught like this..." tears was rolling down one of the clones eyes before the other grinned.

"Look at the bright side, I'm pretty sure Scruffy escaped~"

Juliet pouted as she quickly knocked both of them out before putting them over her shoulder like a bundle of sticks.

"Hey, Bamy, can you get the other one down the canal?"

"It's Lamy! And I'm not touching your gross mucus!" Lamy whined as Juliet chuckled.

"Don't worry, the mucus I used in this fight won't burn your skin..."

"That's not why I don't want to touch it at all!" Lamy snapped as she noticed more and more of a crowd starting to form around the scene.

"Listen, Lappy we need to find Hud fast, from there we should probably find a spot to talk with the others." Juliet pointed out as Lamy grumbled.

"F-fine, but you owe me for this..." Lamy quickly ran back down the street towards the place where the battle first started.

* * *

"Damn, I hope Briar managed to escape..." the hooded man slipped into an alley way checking if anyone had followed him. It seemed that he managed to lose the foe that was chasing him. That was until he heard a voice from above.

"Hey!" The man flinched as he looked up gazing at Hud who was sitting on the building.

Hud then jumped down looking at the hooded man. The monster quickly scanned his enemy before laughing. "You aren't strong at all are you? If you just give up I probably won't beat you up..."

Hud had an almost bored expression as the man backed up. He cursed himself, it seemed that he had no choice but to fight.

He lifted his hand as Hud eyes narrowed. In an instant a sword appeared in his hands as he swung downward.

Despite the speed of the swing Hud almost casually grabbed the man's arm. In less than a second Hud struck the man in his chest seven times.

"No good, at that speed you might as well not be moving..." Hud said as the man body shook he collapsed on the ground. Hud then put him over his shoulder before frowning.

"Man, I bet that woman was way tougher. Maybe I should have taken care of her instead." Hud casually walked out of the alleyway. Not even worrying about the man on his shoulder.

"Where should I go now? I could go back to the inn but..." Hud eyes wandered to the blond man. "I don't think they will let me just take this guy with me."

As Hud wondered what to do next he noticed Lamy and Juliet down the street. They were carrying their defeated enemy or rather enemies over their shoulders.

"Oh, you guys are finished too." Hud said as Lamy groaned.

"Come on, we need to head to the outskirts of town. From there we can question these guys properly..." Lamy sighed as she dragged the unconscious clone with her.

"Yeah, we really can't take them to the inn like this and we need to lay low for a few hours since everyone in town is freaking out about our battle." Juliet pointed out, it wasn't like they could just go around blowing stuff up and not be noticed.

"That's fine be me...I just want to know why humans would have a cube piece." Hud stated.

"We can ask that once we get away from everyone..." Lamy quickly replied as the three of them ran to the nearest exit of town.

 **Author note**

 **This is my longest chapter yet, which makes sense since this is probably going to be my most complicated arc for this story.**

 **I hope people don't find this kind of stuff too boring. Since last chapter was mostly talking I hope this doesn't bother people too much.**

 **Hud's hometown is loosely based on Santorini.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12  
**

 **Reasons for Staying**

"Ugh, I forgot how damp and wet it is around here." Juliet frowned as she kicked the mud off of her shoes.

''It's not too bad, I wouldn't want to sleep on the ground around this area but I think it being misty is nice." Hud closed his eyes before turning his attention back to the duo that was tied to the tree.

Both of them were glaring at them, the woman's magic had long since deactivated and she was once again stuck being a single person. The blond man next to her didn't speak either as the young monster crossed his arms.

"Lamy is getting the rest of our group. I personally don't really care much about you two or where you came from. I'm more interested in what you have." Hud glanced over to Juliet as she nodded.

She then lifted two of her fingers as a small hole in the mucus appeared. The man eye twitched as Hud lifted his hand shoving it into the hole breaking what little armor the blond swordsmen had.

"What are you doing?!" The woman snapped, perhaps a part of her thought Hud had just impaled her partner.

"There it is!" Hud grinned as he pulled out what appeared to be a misshaped stone.

What was odd about it was that it had grass covering it, at first Juliet thought it was moss, but as she examined it further it seemed to have been some sort of miniature field.

"So, is this a cube piece or whatever?" Juliet asked as Hud nodded.

"I think, but the ones we seen before were way bigger than this. One was even made into a tower before, I don't know why this one is so small..." Hud then laughed. "Well, I guess it's not really for me to worry about that, I let Lamy take care of that complicated stuff."

"So, now that you are finished, are you going to let us go?" The white haired woman asked as Hud merely shrugged.

"I would but I'm pretty sure the rest of my guild wants to ask you some questions. Though I can promise we probably won't kill you."

"Probably isn't a promise at all!" The woman snapped as Juliet started to speak.

"That's all fine, but that cube part isn't the only item you have right?" Juliet pointed out as the woman flinched.

"Yep, that reaction is about right. If you just tell us what it is it'll be a lot easier on you." Juliet pointed.

"Nah, if they don't want to tell us they don't have to. We aren't here for that, and I doubt it would be useful if it belongs to these two." Hud laughed as Juliet couldn't help but sigh.

"You know Hud, there is a difference between confidence and ignorance. Aren't you at least bit interested in what they have?"

Hud thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Nope, plus if it's something important we probably would know about it."

Juliet shrugged. If he truly thought that nothing she said would change it, after all it was thanks to that attitude was probably the reason she was standing there.

"Hey!" Before the conversation could continue the two heard a shout as they saw Lamy in the distance with the rest of the group behind her.

"It looks like the gross bunny finally returned..." Juliet stated.

"It seems that you were actually successful..." Seilah stated as Hud handed her the cube piece.

"So...these were the ones that had it." Fukuro stated as Frlea eyes narrowed scanning their two prisoners.

"They don't seem like much...we could probably ditch them and just leave now." The plant creature stated as Seilah pressed her finger to her lip.

"Perhaps, but I want to know what a human was doing with something like this in the first place." Seilah walked up to the pair wondering what she was going to do to them.

"What guild are you apart of? Depending on how you answer the next few minutes of your life can be easy or hell..." Seilah's statement was more than a threat as the woman bit her lip, but strangely enough a hint of confusion appeared on her face.

"We aren't apart of a guild, plus if you guys found us that means you already have all of our info."

"Huh, what do you mean?" Lamy tilted her head as the blond man replied.

"You...you guys are apart of Death Head Caucus aren't you?"

"Those cactus guys again...'" Hud grumbled recalling the events back at the tower as Fukuro took over.

"So you are being targeted by Death Head Caucus, for what reason?" The simple answer would have been that they had a hit on their head. But the former member had a feeling that wasn't the case for the pair in front of them.

The blond man remained silent before sighing. "Before I answer that, may I ask you something else?"

Seilah scoffed. "You don't seem to understand the situation you are i-"

"Sure!" Hud instantly cut her off, making her wonder why she even bothered trying to interrogate anyone while he was around.

"Are you guys apart of Crime Sorciere?" The man said a completely random name.

"Who?" That was Hud's only response as he looked over to the others. Everyone else had a blank expression except Seilah.

"I vaguely recall such a name, but its relevance as long since passed. If you two are worried about us being apart of such a guild then put them at rest and explain why a human would have a piece of the Cube?"

The woman frowned, it wasn't like they had much of a choice but to explain their current situation, at least a part of it.

"We actually got that cube piece from Death Head Caucus..."

"By got, you mean stole right?" Fukuro pointed out as the woman pouted.

"How we got it doesn't matter. We were planning on finding out more about it and either selling it or using it. We didn't actually expect so many different guilds would be wanting to get their hands on it." The woman replied as Hud laughed.

"Of course that would happen if you steal something. The fact that you didn't know what to do with it once you had it just shows that." Hud said as he continued. "Juliet, you can let them go now."

"Are you sure~" Juliet tilted her head. A part of her was hesitant to follow, simply because she had no idea what they would do.

"Yeah, it's not like they can do anything to us while we are all here. Plus we got what we came for and I'm sure the others want to leave soon." Hud pointed out.

"Actually I wish to stay a little longer. This Crime Sorciere has piqued my interest and if someone else is after the cube pieces I want to deal with them." Seilah stated.

She was a demon after all, and avoiding such issues would just have them crop up later. They needed to deal with all their enemies quickly and effectively as possible.

"I agree, if Death Head Caucus has a hand in this then I should at least look into it. I have a feeling they are planning something and Ikaruga would be interested to find out about it."

Hud looked at the two before grinning. "Kehkehkeh! That's great, I wanted to fight someone strong and these guys sound interesting." Hud looked back over to the two as Juliet finally released her magic letting them escape the grasp of the tree.

"So what are you two going to do? Run away?" Hud words were blunt, but the duo really had no reaction to his statement.

"Staying here is a bad idea...however it's only fair that we do so until everything is sorted out." The woman smiled as Juliet eyes narrowed.

Something was off about their reaction. They were so quick to want to get away before but now it was almost as if they were calm. And like she, the two of them staying in or even near the town was just putting them in more danger.

So why stay?

"That's great, even if you guys are pretty. By the way my name is Monster Hud!" Hud smiled as Frlea groaned.

"Hud, don't just give out your full name like that. It could get us in trouble later..." It seemed not even the plant like monster completely trusted the duo.

"My name is Briar, and Scruffy here is Jerome. You really don't need to know anything else about our past do you?" The woman smiled, anyone could see that there was red-flags everywhere but Hud simply ignored them.

"That's fine, I recommend you guys hide if you're planning on staying though." Hud pointed out as he started to walk away, the rest of demon fang slowly following him.

"Hud, are you really okay leaving them like that?" Lamy frowned glancing back to the duo they were just letting go.

"Yeah, they weren't very strong after all. Plus even if they do try to do something I've got all of you guys to back me up." Hud pointed out, but it really didn't feel like a proper answer.

"At the very least I want to keep an eye on them...once we get back to the inn I shall sent something up..." Seilah stated. A part of her recognized the two, if only in passing. That and the comment about Crime Sorciere made her uneasy, regardless she wanted to unravel it all before she left the town.

"Not only that, but one of the town's residents told us that another guild is staying at the inn. One of us should look into that and confirm who they are and what they want. Depending on if it is Death Head Caucus or this Crime Sorciere we can make our next move." Fukuro added as Frlea chuckled.

"No worries I'll take care of that. If it's just a small building then I can spy on both people and monsters easily..." The small monster almost seemed a bit too proud about having such an ability.

"Well, regardless we should probably wait until we are back at the inn to discuss this further." Seilah pointed out as she looked at Briar and Jerome one more time.

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea Briar?" Jerome asked his partner as she smiled.

"Maybe, maybe not. It's not like giving them the Cube Piece was going to get Death Head Caucus and Crime Sorciere off of our backs. Not only that, but that woman, I think she was a part of Tartaros." Briar pointed out as Jerome closed his eyes.

"You noticed as well, I actually hoped that we could just ignore that part..."

They were once apart of Avatar, the successor to the Balam Alliance. It only made sense that they had at least a bit of passing knowledge of the members of those guilds.

"Ignoring it won't make it go away, plus we might as well use those dangerous guys to our own ends. With any luck they will wipe out both Death Head Caucus and Crime Sorciere for us and we can finally sell this Lacrima..." Briar then slipped her hand between her breast pulling out a rather tiny Lacrima.

It was no bigger than a piece of candy as Jerome eyes narrowed. "Selling such a thing...seems like a waste."

"What? Unless you're interested in becoming a slayer don't complain. We don't even know what kind of magic it will give. I'm just happy they didn't try to press us for it. I was worried when that mucus girl kept bringing it up."

Whether it was a stroke of luck of incompetence on their part it really didn't matter. If they were willing to do all the hard parts for free who was she to have any complaints.

* * *

"So, Frlea, what is your plan exactly?" Lamy asked as she sat in one of the few beds in the hotel room.

Most of the group was either standing or sitting on the floor as Frlea stood in front of the door trying his best to peek under the crack.

"I do hope you have a better plan than that." Seilah stated as the plant creature grumbled.

The plant creature then took a few steps, then without warning or provocation he lifted one of his hands and pulled out his eye. Juliet and Lamy flinched slightly at the sight as Frlea then put his eye ball between his hands and flattened it like it was a piece of paper.

Frlea then slid his eye between the crack in the door a small vine connected it to Frlea's eye socket.

"I didn't know you could do something like that..." Fukuro examined Frlea as Hud smiled.

"He is a monster plant, so it's not a big deal if he loses an eye or an arm since it will grow back." Hud pointed out as Frlea giggled.

"Yep, unlike you...non-plants me pulling and removing my arms and legs is natural. I still don't like doing it however."

Lamy frowned as she examined him as well. She recalled him doing something similar back when they fought the Salad Squad. Though this time he didn't create a miniature forest.

"I must say, even I am impressed, however if you have this covered I see no point of us all waiting in a single room." Seilah pointed out as Frlea frowned.

"W-wait, you're just going to leave me in this room by myself?" Frlea whined as Seilah shook her head.

"No, Lamy will be staying with you as well."

The moment Seilah said that Lamy sighed with relief. Even if she was a demon it wasn't like she was able to keep up with the rest of them in terms of strength.

"...Being with trash...that's even worse than being by myself!" Frlea quickly pointed out as Lamy frowned.

"This isn't good for me either, I wouldn't mind being with a hot guy like Hud or that blond man from earlier!"

Hud just laughed as the rest of the group ignored their complaints before they slowly made their way out of the room. Right before they walked out of the inn a familiar girl stopped them.

"Oh, cool demon lady, you're going out?" Gutrune asked as Seilah groaned slightly.

It seemed that the girl had gotten attached to her for some odd reason. While it certainly appealed to her base desire to be respected it wasn't really something the demon wanted to deal with.

"Why yes, though I do hope you know that it is rude to ask a guest where they are going..." Seilah brushed her hair to the side as the girl pouted.

"You sound like my mom, but anyway...just be careful. Like I said earlier some weird humans tend to hang around at night lately." Gutrune smiled as she ran off, no doubt to fix up more of the inn.

"Huh, that girl seems to like you." Hud pointed out as Seilah sighed.

"Yes, how unfortunate that I attract such children. Perhaps it is just my natural aura..."

"Well, it certainly isn't because of your modesty." Juliet added as the walked out of the inn. The sun was setting in the sky as the town took on an almost haunted feeling.

The light mist that had consumed the town was slowly turning into a thick fog. A perfect place for a town filled with deep ones to live.

"This place really is creepy...now I can see how half the populace are monsters." Juliet shivered recalling what Seilah had told her and Lamy when they arrived back at the inn.

A town filled with monsters that pretended to be human outside of the public eye that wanted to remain hidden. It sounded like a plot to some sort of horror novel. At the very least the monsters were friendly enough.

"So, do we just go around the city looking for anyone strange?" Hud asked as Fukuro nodded.

"While crude that is the simplest course of action. If they have a way to track the cube piece then they will likely find us first regardless..." Fukuro stated as Seilah pulled out the piece from her person.

"Wouldn't it be easier just to leave the piece with Lamy and Frlea?" Juliet asked as Seilah quickly shook her head.

"Those two, while having some skills, are unsuited for direct combat. If we left the piece with them, and they were attacked they would have it taken." Of course Seilah was thinking of the worst case scenario.

This was assuming that this was if their enemies had their own way of tracking the cube piece down, as well as if they were powerful. This also prevented them from hiding the cube piece somewhere.

After all if their enemies had a way to track it then they could just find the hiding spot and take it without anyone noticing it. Despite how silly it was, the safest spot for the item was with them.

"Man, I hope they show up soon. This trip would be boring if we didn't end up fighting anyone strong." Hud pointed out as they started to walk the streets of Cewdeep.

Just like Gutrune had said, everyone was going in for the night and only the handful of bars and restaurants were staying open. Soon the streets would be a ghost town with only a select few out.

"Monster, about those two from earlier..." Seilah looked over at Hud who tilted his head.

"You mean that white haired woman and blond guy? What about them?" Hud was confused why Seilah even bothered bringing them up.

"Did they tell you a general meeting location or if they are going to stay at the inn?" Seilah asked. Neither Jerome nor Briar had came back with them despite telling all of them they would be in town.

"Um, no. The only thing they told me was that they were going to stay around town for the time being. I just guessed that they meant they were going to sleep on the outskirts or something." Hud didn't really put much thought into those kinds of things.

"...I guess it doesn't matter now that we have a cube piece. However keep an eye out for them and don't lower your guard." Seilah stated as the four of them continued to wander the town.

* * *

Lamy and Frlea remained most silent as Frlea continued to use his eye to search the rooms of the inn. Lamy on the other hand continued to tinker with the L.A.M seeing what else she could do with it.

"Ah, being able to lie in this nice bed while everyone else is out there risking their lives. I really don't think there is a better feeling." Lamy grabbed a nearby pillow nearly curling herself around it.

The beds were far nicer than the ones back at the guild-hall, and unlike the guild-hall it wasn't a constant draft coming in.

"You worthless garbage bunny! At least have the decency to not sleep while everyone else is doing something!" Frlea snapped as Lamy mumbled something under her breath.

"Sorry I'm not a weirdo that can pull my eyes of of my head..." Lamy whispered as Frlea was about to say something else as the two of them heard a noise from the other side of the door.

Lamy quickly jumped off of the bed pressing her ear to the door as Frlea did the same. Muffled voices of a male and female talking about something. The moment they heard footsteps coming up the stairs both Lamy and Frlea scrambled to the back of the room remaining completely silent.

Lamy then pressed her head to the floor peeking out of the crack as she noticed two pairs of feet.

One was almost like feathered saddles. Pure white, if Lamy didn't know any better she would have said they belonged to an angel. As both Lamy and Frlea remained silent they knew someone had stopped at the door.

"Something smells off..." A masculine voice stated.

"You've said that the moment we set foot in this town." The feminine voice replied.

"Well, that's because everything smells off. Half of these people don't even smell like humans, now I'm getting an odd smell coming from this room..."

Both Lamy and Frlea's heart sank, but there worries were quickly relieved. After all, they were guest at the inn. It wasn't like someone would break down their door without asking.

If they really were apart of a dark guild or something else they probably wanted to be secretive. Busting down a random inn door wasn't going to let them do that.

"Look at it this way, the faster we find that lacrima the faster we can leave." With those words they finally walked past the door causing both Frlea and Lamy to relax.

"Do you think those guys were with one of the guilds that were after those two from before?" Lamy whispered as Frlea nodded.

"Probably, they both seemed to have been humans. Though the fact that they are right next door makes me nervous." Frlea got up leaning his head against the wall. Which was strange since he didn't have any visible ears on his head.

"The walls seem thick enough, at the very least I don't think they will hear us talking." Frlea relaxed further as he walked towards the door removing his eye once again.

"W-what are you doing?" Lamy still kept her voice low as Frlea grumbled.

"Spying on them of course. That is why we are here after all..." Frlea pointed out as Lamy shook her head.

"Y-you're kidding, what if they notice and come knocking on our door?"

"You dumpster, that won't happen. My spying skills are perfect, as long as I keep to the walls of the room I should be fine." He once again flattened his eye sliding it under the door. Like a tiny snake the vine it was connected to slithered to the room next to them entering it.

"W-what do you see?" Lamy asked.

"Shut up, I'll tell you once I'm finished..." Frlea refocused his eye as he scanned the room from the corner.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the room. Both of the mages were sitting in separate beds speaking to one another. Unfortunately his eyes didn't have ears so the conversation was loss. However Frlea did take note of their appearance.

They both appeared human, but the man had somewhat pointed ears with dark hair. His most interesting feature was the fact one of his eyes were closed, making Frlea wonder if he had lost it.

The woman on the other hand what appeared to be feathered clothing and not much else. She had snow white hair, and a small curl at the top that made a circle. Such unusual hair was normal for demons and monsters, but seeing a human with it was...rather funny.

Just when Frlea was about to pull his eye back he noticed the man's ear twitch as he slowly turned towards the eye.

"O-oh crap..." Frlea quickly pulled out, the vine was like a whip going all the way back to his eye socket.

"W-whats wrong?" Lamy shivered.

"I think they noticed me..."

"You think?! Didn't you say that your spying skills were perfect or whatever? If they noticed us isn't that completely pointless?!" Lamy voice started to raise as Frlea actually winced.

"S-shut up, you don't think I know that? I just want to know how they noticed me..." Frlea frowned. Monsters didn't have magic so it wasn't from humans sensing them.

Either way, the moment they heard the door to the other room shut Lamy started to pull on her ears.

"W-what are we going to d-" before Lamy could finish her statement she noticed Frlea body getting stiff before locking into a rather generic expression. He was already pretending to be a doll.

"D-don't just leave me alone to deal with this..." Lamy whined as a sharp knock was heard on the door.

"Hey, is anyone in there?"

Lamy froze as she picked up Frlea as she remained silent.

"M-maybe he'll go away if I keep quiet..." Lamy whispered to herself as she heard a response.

"I won't..."

She was more shocked that he heard that than the fact that she just gave away her own location. Still she was in a rather bad spot and the only thing she could hope for was if the others returned.

Lamy bit her lip, not saying a word as the voice from the other side let out a scoff.

"Not coming out huh? Well, I've got plenty of time to kill and the fact that you are staying inside just tells me you're guilty..."

Lamy winced, there was no windows leading out of the room and even if there were she had a feeling the man who was hounding her would know instantly that she left.

Regardless, the best thing she could do was wait and hope he wouldn't break the door down.

* * *

"Maybe we should head back, it doesn't look like anyone is coming out to attack us." Juliet pointed out as Hud sighed.

"Aw man, maybe they are waiting for something el-" Just when Hud was about to finish his statement the four of them felt the air change. Hud eyes narrowed as he looked down the lonely foggy road as two figures appeared.

A man and a woman wearing large mantles. Both had the Death Head Caucus guildmark on their cheeks.

The woman was rather short, shorter than even Juliet. She had short black hair and dull yellow eyes. The man on the other hand was large, only being a few inches shorter than Fukuro.

Despite that, he had somewhat long brown hair and rather soft features. The kind of man that Lamy would make an 'attempt' to flirt with if given the chance.

"So, they finally decided to show themselves..." Fukuro groaned as he looked at the pair walking towards him. He didn't recognize them, but there was always a chance that they were new recruits.

"About time I was about to get bored..." Hud took a step forward as he stopped for a moment. The smile that was on his face turned into a glare as Juliet noticed the shift in his behavior.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just, I can sense a soul but...are those two even alive?" It seemed that he was more talking to himself than to Sun.

Just when the battle was about to begin a song started to echo through the town.

"A wonderful beginning of a tragedy..."

"But through such tragedy a spring of life will appear..."

This time it was Fukuro that flinched as he he looked up to the sky to see two women sitting on the roof of one of the many surrounding buildings.

They appeared to have been twins, at least that is what they looked like. One girl had hair as red as blood, while the other had hair as blue as the sea. The two of them were wearing what seemed to have been modified maid uniforms covered in chains.

"The siblings of life and death...Ella and Emma." Fukuro grumbled as the red haired woman giggled.

"Hey, if it isn't owl-head. We heard that you escaped but to be all the way out here..."

"Still, it's all the same since you and Ikaruga was our next target anyway." The other girl finished the statement as Seilah groaned.

"I should have expected that the Death Head Caucus would get in our way again. You do realize what happens to those who challenge a demon?" Seilah lifted her hands as the twins laughed.

"Getting in your way? Isn't it the other way around? A scrap demon made from a worthless mage has no right to speak to use like that."

"What did you just say?" Seilah eyes widened. "It wasn't enough that you insulted me, but you insulted the great Zeref?!"

Even if she wasn't focusing on the great Dark Mage she still had nothing but respect for her creator. To have him be insulted by lowly humans was not an offense she was willing to take.

Despite her glare the twins simply laughed

"Oh me..."

"Oh my..."

"It seems like this scrap demon doesn't know what happened."

"Her precious god long dead, but yet she clings on to that." The twins continued to speak as the blue haired one looked over to the other two members.

"Hey murder dolls, we'll take care of this demon and Fukuro. We'll let you handle the other two."

"Understood." That was the only reply as the other duo started to make their way towards Hud and Juliet.

Hud frowned, despite almost all the monsters and humans being inside for the night he still didn't want to fight in the town. They already caused a scene earlier that day and he didn't want to cause problems for the monsters living there.

Despite his lust for battle he still had some basic protective instinct for his fellow race.

"Hud, we should move somewhere else..." Juliet pointed out as her guild master nodded.

"Yeah," Hud then turned his head towards Seilah and Fukuro. "Try not to mess up the town too much alright..."

"Very well." Fukuro was the only one that responded, mostly because Seilah was still in a rage from her foes comments.

"Alright..." Without saying anything else both Hud and Juliet dashed away nearly vanishing from sight. Their enemies did the same completely vanishing leaving Fukuro and Seilah with the twins.

"So now that we are alone..." The red haired twin started.

"Shall we sing you the song of love and death?" The blue haired twin finished as they lifted their hands.

* * *

"I think this is far enough." Hud slowed down stopping by a nearby tree in the outskirts of the town. Juliet wasn't far behind him as their enemies appeared before them.

Juliet frowned, the fact that the two of them managed to keep up with them was unnerving to say the least. While she wasn't among the strongest of the Alvarez Empire she was still strong or as strong as most S-class mages.

"Are you satisfied with this location?" The man asked, there was no expression in his voice, it seemed almost machine like.

"Geez, you guys aren't very cheerful huh?" Hud pressed his hand on his hips before smiling. "We should at least introduce ourselves before we fight right? My name is Monster Hud..."

There enemies simply looked at him, Juliet was expecting them to just attack, but instead...

"I am designated as Greent." The woman stated before the man started to speak.

"I am designated as Sig."

"W-woah, they actually responded..." Juliet was shocked as Hud widened his stance.

"I guess we should get started then." Hud lifted both of his hands preparing for his enemies to strike. Instead they continued to look at both him and Juliet.

Something wasn't right about them. Despite having a soul, they weren't humans, monsters or demons. "Hey, Juliet, can these guys use magic?" Hud asked as the brown-haired girl nodded.

"Yeah, they can use magic...at least I can sense magic coming from them."

"Then they can't be monsters..." Hud took a step forward before dashing towards the man. Juliet winced as he nearly left a gust of wind behind. By the time she had realized that Hud was going on the offensive he was already next to the man named Sig.

"There!" Hud reeled back his fist aiming for his opponent's head as a loud sound echoed through the field. However it wasn't the sound of Hud's attack making contact...

"..." Sig had lifted his hand completely blocking Hud's attack.

Hud eye twitched, it wasn't just the fact that his enemy reacted fast enough to block it, it was also the fact that his hand hadn't been blown off from the impact.

Without saying a word Sig lifted his foot kicked Hud a few meters away. The monster groaned as he landed perfectly on his feet.

"These guys seem pretty durable...hehehe, I'm glad I've found someone worth fighting. Maybe I'll grow a bit from this fight!" Hud smiled lowering his stance once again.

Juliet glared at Greent. There was something unsettling familiar about the two Death Head Caucus members, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Regardless, she was still Juliet Sun of the Irene Squad, she couldn't let Hud outshine her too much.

"I guess you're my opponent." Juliet smiled as the woman stared at her blankly. Greent then raised her arm as a large blade came out of her forearm.

"W-what?" Juliet flinched as Greent jumped into the air, her blade outstretched. Juliet narrowly avoided the attack as a large split appeared in the ground shredding any nearby trees.

It wasn't just the destructive force that caught Juliet off-guard, rather the fact she couldn't sense any magic in the attack.

There enemies really weren't normal.

 **Author note**

 **Short chapter, mostly just talking. Also Merry Late Christmas**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13  
**

 **Machines**

The sound of air being cut echoed through the field as Juliet avoided another one of her enemies strikes. Without even hesitating she reeled back her foot kicking Greent as possible in the stomach, however...

"W-what?" Juliet winced as she felt a sharp pain run through her foot and leg. She barely had enough time to dodge another swipe from the strange woman.

"Pointless...what you are doing is merely the buzzing of a fly." The black haired woman's words barely had any emotion as the white angel chuckled.

"Well, we all have our trump card." Juliet then lifted her hands as she fired a stream of mucus bullets at her enemy.

The woman tilted her head raising her blade cutting through the slime...or at least that is what she thought.

"I've got you!" Juliet lifted her finger as she pulled on a strand of mucus.

Greent didn't notice her blade covered in the liquid as the blade instantly started to burn. In a matter of seconds the blade was dulled to complete uselessness as Juliet ran towards her foe.

"This time I'll aim for your face~" Juliet smiled as she took aim at her foes head...however before she could fire her attack she was knocked by what seemed to be a gust of wind.

"Huh?" Juliet closed one of her eyes, for a split second she felt magic coming from Greent as she frowned. "I hope Hud is doing better..." Just as she said that what sounded like a thunderclap was heard.

Hud's and Sig's shoulders collided, neither of them letting up.

"Y-you guys are tough and don't break easy." Hud smiled as he reeled back his fist. Without even thinking he punched Sig in the face, this time the blow actually had enough force to send the man back but...

"That's not enough..." Sig simply shifted his head as if he hadn't been hit at all as Hud grumbled.

"Guess I'll have to try harder." Hud smiled as he noticed Juliet land right behind him.

"Hud, are you alright?" Juliet stated as the monster boy simply laughed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've been trying to get a feel for these guys, but I don't know what they are..." Juliet frowned as she turned her head. Greent was walking towards her once again. Even without her blade there was a certain eeriness to her opponents movements.

"This isn't too bad so far, but..." Juliet stopped for a moment looking at both Greent and Sig. "I have a feeling they haven't been going all out." Juliet stated as Hud laughed.

"Yep..." Hud then turned his head as if he was speaking to Sig. "Hey, listen, you won't beat us like this. So I suggest you guys start going all out if you want this to go anywhere!"

Juliet would have normally been against goading their enemies. However, she did want to finish the fight quickly. The longer they waited the higher the chance that Seilah and Fukuro would need help.

"...Very well," Sig straightened his back as he looked past Hud and Juliet towards Greent. "It's time."

That was all he said as both of them widened their stance. At that moment a small burst of flame came out of Sig's body as a tiny gust of wind came out of Greent.

Both Hud's and Juliet's eyes widened. Then, in almost an instant...

"Gah!"

Hud and Juliet were knocked away instantly, they were barely able to respond to their opponents attacks.

Hud winced as he skid to a halt before catching Juliet.

"They just got stronger all of a sudden..." Hud frowned as Juliet nodded composing herself. Her clothes were starting to get messy from both the grass and the constant attacks.

"Y-yeah, not only that but I'm starting to feel magic coming from the two of them." Juliet shivered if only for a moment. It wasn't just a fluke, they really were holding back a majority of their power.

"Hehehehe, this is so exciting! Alright no more holding back! I'm going all out!" Hud was nearly humming as Juliet slumped her shoulders.

She really wished he would take the fight more seriously. Then again if her opponent was weak Juliet probably would have had the same reaction.

Juliet flicked her finger as she flung some mucus onto a nearby tree. She then flung herself towards Greent. Right before Greent was able to attack her Juliet used her other hand changing her direction while in midair.

Mucus magic was one of versatility. While it wasn't able to shatter mountains it provided both offensive and defensive benefits. Combined with its nearly nonexistent cost to cast it, it was far closer to an extension of her being than something she cast.

"Pest..." Greent groaned as she reeled back her fist. She was preparing to strike Juliet, but before she could she felt something land on her shoulders.

"Huh?" Greent just tilted her head as two large strands of mucus stuck to her shoulders. Without even waiting Juliet flung herself towards her foe, lifting both of her feet. Greent didn't even have time to react as the heels of Juliet shoes collided with her face.

However, instead of sending Greent flying back the woman barely had any reaction to it. Juliet flinched as she tried to gain distance, but it was too late. The woman had already grabbed her leg.

"D-darn!" Juliet winced as Greent lifted her with only one arm and slammed her onto the ground shattering the dirt and grass below.

Juliet eyes widened, it felt like her back had been shattered. She quickly tried to kick Greent with her free leg, desperately trying to force her opponent to let go. Yet...

"It's meaningless..." Greent repeatedly slammed Juliet into the marshy ground, each time more and more of the dirt was kicked up. The woman then casually tossed the white angel to the side as Juliet struggled to get onto her feet.

"You're still alive?" Greent tilted her head as she scanned Juliet. "Oh, I see you must have used your magic to soften the blows..." Greent noted as she saw the slime like substance dripping from Juliet's skin and clothing.

"Of course, I'm not someone who will be taken down so easily." Juliet smiled, but it was more of a bluff than anything. Despite avoiding being taken out of the fight completely she was still tired. Still, she was getting valuable information on her foe.

Juliet glanced at her enemies shoulders, noticing that they were still burning from the mucus she had placed on her earlier. However instead of the smell of flesh it was something different.

"I think I finally figured out what you guys are!" Juliet quickly fired dozens of mucus bullets surrounding her enemy. However Greent didn't bother to take any precautions, instead focusing on Juliet's words.

"You have?"

"That's right, you aren't humans, you aren't even demons or monsters. That body of yours, the way you act. I've encountered your kind back in Alvarez, you are Machias aren't you!" With those words Juliet clamped her hands together, all the surrounding mucus converged onto Greent kicking up a large amount of dirt and water.

Juliet frowned not being able to see her enemy due to the force of her attack, but she knew something like that wasn't going to be enough to finish a machia.

"At the very least I can restrict her mov-" Juliet couldn't even finish her statement as she felt something collide with her face. She was force back, a hand gripping her head forcing her into a nearby rock.

Juliet winced, the object was squeezing her head as she desperately tried to pull it off. It was a hand, but something was clearly wrong with it, because the arm that it was attached to was stretched like a metal serpent.

"If that is the case, I really don't need to hide my abilities any longer..." Greent walked out of the debris, her mantel completely burned off. Her long metal arm had stretched at least a few meters.

"Y-you..." Juliet coughed those words out as she tried to use her mucus to burn the hand off. However the moment she tried to do so she felt the hand squeeze her skull.

"It's pointless, I'll crush your head before you can do anything...so just relax. Once you're dead I'll send everyone else with you." The calmness in Greent voice as she increased the pressure of her hand was unsettling.

Juliet felt the energy draining from her body. Greent was right, she wouldn't be able to burn through her arm by the time she crushed her skull. Despite everything she was completely defeated.

"Hey, Juliet!" At that moment a voice called out to her. The moment Juliet heard it Greent arm was smashed into, releasing her from its grip.

Juliet nearly collapsed onto the ground holding her skull. The hand that was pinning her to the rock now laid limply beside her.

"Hud?" Juliet shook her head as she stared at her guildmaster.

"Yep, are you alright?" Hud asked standing in front of Juliet as she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine I just let my guard down for a moment." Juliet replied as Sig appeared next to Greent.

"I apologize, I wasn't able to stop him from interfering..." Sig stated as Greent simply shook her head.

"No need, we will kill them soon enough." As she said that Greent removed the remains of her arm tossing it on the ground. At that moment a new one unfolded from her shoulder. This one didn't have any false skin on it.

"So these guys are robots or something?" Hud asked glaring at them as Juliet shook her head.

"More like metal people if that makes sense. Their bodies are tough and they won't be broken easily. However these two aren't as strong as the one that was with of the Spriggan 12."

"I don't know what that is..." Hud replied as Juliet couldn't help but sigh. She kept forgetting that she wasn't in Alvarez, so those type of comments probably didn't hold a lot of water.

"Anyway, you're a mage right? So you must have a super attack that can blow these guys away." Hud asked casually as a frown crept on Juliet's face.

"I do have one spell...but it will take time to build-up. I don't think I'd be able to prepare it while fighting." Juliet stated as Hud just laughed.

"That's all? It's fine. I'll tackle these two head on while you charge your attack. If I'm being blunt, these guys are just way too sturdy for you to attack head-on." Hud's words struck her a bit, but he had a point.

There was no need for her to waste energy slamming her head against a brick if that energy could have been spent on something far more useful.

And so, Juliet placed her hand on the ground. A small glyph appearing on the ground as Juliet slowly started to pull ethernano from the surrounding area. The moment she did Hud took a few steps towards the duo taking a deep breath.

Without even hesitating he let out a howl towards Sig and Greent pushing them back from its sheer force as he ran towards them engaging both of them in close range combat.

With a simple kick Hud sent Greent flying a few feet back as he blocked an incoming attack from Sig.

"I see so you are tying to bide time for your ally to attack. I promise you it's pointless, besides we haven't showed you everything we have to offer..." Sig stated as he raised his hand, a light glow appeared from it as Hud flinched.

"Y-yikes!" Hud moved as a large flame was shot out of the palm of Sig's hand. However before Hud could get his barrings his feet were lifted off of the ground as he was flung into a nearby tree.

As he crashed into it Hud quickly got back onto his feet dusting himself off. "You guys are really something, fighting you made this entire trip worth it." Hud then smiled as he lowered his stance attacking his foes once again.

Juliet looked on, still gathering magic for what she hoped to be the last strike. She knew she shouldn't have been impressed by Hud considering his title as Guildmaster, but she honestly had underestimated him due to his rather carefree nature.

As the battle continued Hud was subtly leading the duo back towards Juliet as Greent eyes narrowed.

"Fool you let your guard down!" She snapped as both her arms extended like snakes wrapping themselves around Hud's neck and one of his arms.

"Gah," he winced as he noticed Sig's eyes widening. A small flame starting to appear in his mouth. It was clear that he was about to fire it at both Hud and Juliet.

"D-darn it!" Juliet winced as she finally fired her attack. "Mucus Rifle!" At that moment a thick strand of mucus collided with Sig's stomach as if it was trying to pierce him.

Sig stopped charging his attack, but only for a moment as Juliet's attack fizzled out.

She cursed herself, she fired prematurely and it didn't have enough force to pierce through their body. However, before Juliet had time to regret her action Sig shot a giant flame nearly instantaneously from his mouth.

Neither Hud nor Juliet had time to avoid the attack as they were both consumed by the fire.

Juliet vision as cut-off as she gave a small cry in pain. Despite that, she could still move her body. She flinched as she felt the dirt beneath her as she sat up. She was still alive, not only that, but it seemed that her clothing only got a bit singed due to the attack.

However before her was a field of burning grass. The mist had been burnt away as the once green grass had a red ting to it. In front of her was Hud, his arms cross with smoke coming from his body. His shirt and clothes were missing pieces. It was apparent that he took the brunt of the attack for her.

"Eh, sorry about that Juliet, I let my guard down and you had to fire it early. Let's try it again, alright!" Hud casually smiled, despite some of his clothes being a smoldering mess.

"I am once again sorry Greent. I missed my chance to finish them despite you giving me the opportunity to." Sig stated as he tapped his stomach where Juliet's attack hit.

"Do not worry about it, we wi-" Greent didn't even finish her statement as a foot collided with her face sending her into the ground.

"You know, you shouldn't talk so much during a fight." Hud said, his foot still on Greent's face.

"Why you..." Greent grumbled as her arms twitched grabbing Hud's leg flinging him off of her. Hud started to engage both Sig and Greent again as Juliet looked on before shrugging.

"Geez, doing stuff like that... I might actually start respecting you if you keep it up." Juliet giggled as she started building up magic once again.

As the fight continued it was becoming apparent that Hud was getting used to his opponents moves. Allowing himself to drag the battle out longer giving Juliet more time to prepare.

And so once again Hud was leading the duo back to Juliet as he took another deep breath, the breath had enough force to blow leaves and grass as if it was a gust of wind.

"I'll have your head!" Greent growled as another blade popped out of her arm as she dashed towards Hud. She was mere inches away from his neck as Hud let out a shout.

"Gah!" Greent was consumed by the attack as the shout ate through the ground heading towards Sig.

"Greent! Damn it!" Sig opened his mouth, despite his ally still being trapped in the attack he fired his own. Both of them collided as wind and flames started to tear through the field.

Hud continue to shout not letting up once...however through the flames of Sig's attack a single arm came out grabbing Hud's hair. It was Greent, pulling herself out of the vortex.

She was missing a piece of her face, metal was sticking out of her body. However she was still alive, her blade still aiming for Hud's head.

"I've got you now!" Greent lifted her blade, but Hud didn't even bother trying to dodge. After all, he didn't need to.

"Sorry that took so long Hud~" A cheerful voice came from behind him. It seemed Juliet had finished preparing. "Mucus Rifle!"

In an instant another thick strand of mucus came from Juliet's hands piercing Greent straight through her head. However, the attack wasn't done yet. Like a worm, the attack curved wrapping around Hud's and Sig's attack piercing the second machia straight through the back forcing him to stop his flames.

Greent flinched, she was still alive but she had already accepted her defeat. "So...this is the power of monsters and demons..."

At that moment the power of Hud's shout increased overtaking both Greent and Sig as the two Machias were completely blown away into the horizon as if they were a distant start.

Juliet held her chest taking deep breaths as she at on the ground. "I didn't think we would encounter something like those two here..."

Hud on the other hand had a grin on his face. "Man that was fun! I hope they're not dead, I want to fight them again!"

Juliet couldn't help but grumble at his comment. "Is that all you ever worry about? You know we really could have died..."

"I know! That's what made it even more exciting!" Hud laughed, it was clear that no matter what Juliet said she wasn't going to get through to him. The best thing she could do was refocus him on their next action.

"We should probably get back to town and see if owl-head and Seilah needs help." Juliet stated as Hud nodded.

"Yeah, I wonder if those other guys are as strong..."

* * *

"Too slow Owl-head~" The red haired woman danced on top of the rooftops casually dodging another one of Fukuro's attacks.

"Ella...you and your sister were always a bit overconfident." Fukuro stated as the red-haired assassin simply giggled.

"Huhuhuh, you must know then...when we sing people tend to vanish. So, while my sister deals with that cow of a demon I'll play a song for you." Ella then crossed her arms as her mouth opened.

A large magic circle appeared around her feet as Fukuro twitched. Despite the stories he had heard he didn't actually know what the siblings magic were, but he wasn't just going to stand around while she cast it.

"Justice Ho Ho Hou!" He fired a beam of magic towards his enemy, however the attack never hit its target. Fukuro flinched as a giant bat like wing erupted from the magic circle.

At that moment a creature slowly dragged itself out. The creature itself was nearly ten-feet tall with piercing red eyes. The monster seemed to have been a cross with a bat and a hawk. Fangs lined its face, it's mouth was...unnaturally wide.

Despite it's horrific appearance it had feminine features. Breast and a slender figure, if Fukuro didn't know any better he would have swore he was standing against a demon.

"What is..." Fukuro froze as Ella's lips curled.

"Shocked? To see a owl-headed man with that expression...ah it makes my soul shiver..." Ella then took a deep breath as she started singing once again.

Fukuro didn't even have time to react as the giant creature instantly closed the distance between them grabbing him with its large claws. Fukuro struggled as the monster lifted him over its head before slamming the former Dead Head Caucus member into the street cracking the stone.

Ella simply smiled as she continued to sing. She couldn't help but wonder if her sister was having as much fun.

* * *

"Is flinging books really the strength of a demon?" The blue-haired singer grinned as she casually snatched all of the books from the air shredding them to pieces.

Seilah groaned at the sight. Perhaps it was time to change her curse up, the demon raised her hand as the street beneath her started to crack. At that moment chunks of the street flung themselves towards Emma.

Books wasn't the only thing she could command with her curse. Small individual objects could easily be controlled by her ability. From animals, to street lamps.

Emma eyes simply narrowed as she let the stones collide with her, she fell into a nearby canal as Seilah looked over the side of the bridge she was standing on.

Despite how weak she thought humans were Seilah knew better to think something that weak would be able to defeat so infamous.

After less than a moment Seilah felt a burst of energy erupting from the canal. The water slowly split open as a large wave of water sprouted covered her face as water rained down.

As the water cleared Seilah was greeted with a rather unsettling sight. A large golden crab stood over the canal. Some of its features looked almost mechanical, gears turning through its body.

Its eyes had a faint light as the twitched around. Standing on top of its golden shell was Emma, her hands on her hips.

"Aw, you got my dress all wet." Emma ran her fingers through her blue hair as Seilah's eyes darkened.

"What is that?" The demon had to ask, it clearly wasn't a celestial spirit. Was it some form of different summoning magic?

"This...is the projection of my soul. A disgusting demon that wasn't even born naturally wouldn't understand." Emma took a deep breath as she started singing. The creature then twitched as it jumped onto the wall of the canal before crawling up back onto the street.

Seilah bit her lip. Hud gave her a specific order to keep the destruction in the town low, but she doubted she would be able to do so. Considering a nearly 15 foot crab wasn't something that could be covered up.

The large creature lifted its arm slamming it into the street. Seilah jumped back as a smile crept on her face. "If that is the only thing that creature can do then this will not take long."

The moment Seilah said that Emma stopped signing, the assassin's eyes darkened. "It seems that demons aren't particularly smart..."

The giant crab then opened its claw as a light started to shine from its limbs. Seilah's eyes widened as she narrowly dodged the large beam of light the the monster fired.

The beam went down the canal destroying the few ships that was left as well as instantly evaporating the water in it.

"For an assassin you have an unsettling lack of subtly."

"Sorry, but in a small town like this it doesn't really matter how much we destroy here!" Emma snickered as the crab quickly raced towards the demon.

* * *

"This is..." Fukuro continued to struggle, but it seemed that the monsters grip was absolute. The two sisters were far more terrifying than he had first thought. Still, he still had a plan to escape.

Just when the creature was about to slam the owl-man into the ground again the flames on Fukuro's rockets started to glow ever brighter. In an instant the monster started to get dragged against its will through the air.

"Do you honestly believe that a hero of justice wouldn't have prepared to fight a monster?" Once again Fukuro's rockets ignited as he dived towards the ground just barely missing it, however due to the force the monster slammed into the street finally letting go of the self proclaimed hero.

Despite that the monster clearly suffered from no damage as Ella sighed.

"You know it would have been easier on you if you just let it crush your body. So, decapitation, asphyxiation disembowelment...how would you like to die?" Ella tilted her head as Fukuro landed staring up at the creature.

He wasn't one to bang his head against a brick wall. It was clear that the monster was strong enough to ignore most of his blows. Still, he was positive the same couldn't be said for the summoner.

"If you had summoned this creature without showing your face I would have been killed for sure..." Fukuro spoke as he lowered his body, the two rockets on his back grew in size.

"Missile Ho Ho Hou!" He then fired his rocket pack towards the demon. However before they reached their target one separated from the other seemingly flying into the sky. The other however hit the monster dead.

"Huhuhuhu! Pointless, do you think a weak attack like that would actually do any-" Ella cut herself off as a large smoke screen nearly covered the entire street. Her eyes quickly darted around before realizing what he was doing.

"B-bastard, is he trying to run away...no matter I'll just sen-" Once again Ella, stopped mid-sentence, this time however it was because someone had grabbed her.

"W-what?" That was the only thing Ella could say as Fukuro lifted her up and stuffed her into his mouth. She didn't even have time to struggle as she was completely swallowed.

Fukuro took a deep breath. "That should take care of her...of course this outcome is natural for a hero of justice." Still, despite his words something didn't feel right...

Usually when he captured someone he would feel a surge of magical energy flowing into him. Not only that he would gain certain aspects of their appearance. Yet neither of which had happened.

As his thoughts wandered the monster that had been summoned came out of the smoke ramming into him.

"Gah!" Fukuro let out a cough as was sent flying off the roof and back onto the streets below. "W-what happened? The monster should have been dismissed..."

Or at the very least, he should be the one controlling it. Yet it seemed to have been still following its masters original orders.

Fukuro struggled to his feet, but before he could a shadow appeared over him. Fukuro felt something heavy land on his stomach, his eyes widen as he felt a large lump coming up his stomach.

He quickly fired a Justice Ho Ho Hou at the creature causing it to stagger back, but it was too late. The person he had swallowed was already coming back up as he coughed up the red-haired woman.

Ella twitched as she coughed, she was covered and saliva and her make-up was slowly sliding down her face. She slowly turned her head towards Fukuro who was still holding his stomach.

"You piece of shit freak!" Ella snapped, all sense of elegance vanishing from her speech. "Embarrassing me like THAT!"

Fukuro struggled to get up, but before he could the monster lifted him up and slammed him into the stone street cracking them ever slightly. The monster's talons pinned him to the ground.

"H-how..."

"Stupid, worthless, piece of garbage! That monster is a projection of my very soul! Even if you were to steal my magic it is unusable by anyone else but the mage known as Ella. The only way to dismiss it, is if you somehow managed to knock me out...which is impossible for a nothing like you!"

That explained why nothing happened when he captured her. If she was still awake while in his stomach it was useless.

"Now, 'hero' since you like eating things so much. Maybe I'll cut off your limbs and make you eat them, or maybe I'll have my monster devour you." Ella smiled as her monster started to squeeze Fukuro. However despite the situation he was oddly calm.

"What's wrong, are you so scared that you don't know what to say?" Ella's eyes were twitching as Fukuro simply scoffed.

"Of course not, it's just that a hero of justice always has a back-up plan!"

"What are you talking ab-" Just then the sound of a rocket entered Ella's ears, she didn't have time to order her monster to protect her as the rocket nearly collided with her grabbing her off of the ground.

"W-what? When?!" She cried as the rocket carried her higher and higher into the sky. Just then she heard a loud beeping coming from the rocket pack. "Eh?"

Just then a loud explosion lit up the night sky. The monster let out a howl as it slowly vanished finally letting go of Fukuro. The owl-man then looked up at the sky as he saw Ella following towards the earth into one of the canals.

"It seems like it was a good idea to send that rocket in a different direction after all. I was lucky that the force of the explosion was enough to knock...what am I saying. A hero of justice doesn't need any luck."

With all that said he looked around. He knew the battle wasn't a quiet one, though the fact not even a single person came out to check was unsettling in itself. Regardless he need to find Seilah as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Huhuhuh, is this really the strength of one of the Nine Demon Gates?" Emma laughed as she looked at Seilah. The crab had Seilah in it's pincer as, but instead of being perturb by her situation she almost seem bored.

"For someone who was willing to insult demons, you aren't particularly impressive." Despite being the one trapped Seilah had the nerve to talk back.

"You've got a smart mouth, maybe I'll rip-off your pretty legs." Emma grinned as she raised her arm, commanding the crab to crush it prey, yet...

"Huh?" Emma tilted her head. Despite the crab trying to crush Seilah it wasn't able to. In fact from the looks of it Seilah was prying open the crab's claw.

"For insulting Lord Zeref...I'll make the next part as painful as possible." Seilah eyes darkened as her body quickly transformed into her Etherious form shattering the crab's claw instantly.

Emma flinched as the giant creature swayed. Still, despite the sudden shock Emma still had a smile on her face. "Oh my, just an ugly form, I think it suits a demon like you quite well..."

Seilah remained silent as the crab took its remaining claw pulled bubbles from its mouth. With a single swipe of its limb the large bubbles were fired like cannon balls towards Seilah.

The demon however simply moved avoiding the attack, as much as she hated to admit it she had gotten better at transforming. Not only that, but she felt far less strain while doing so.

She didn't know if this was due to her recovering her old power, or due to the experiences from being apart of Demon Fang, regardless it was time to show what the Goddess of the Chill Moon was capable of.

"Is dodging all your good at?" Emma grinned as the crab opened up its claw once again firing another beam of light. Once again Seilah vanished from Emma's sight, however this time it seemed that she had completely disappearing.

"Huh? did she run a-" Just when Emma was about to complete her statement she felt her footing start to give way. Which was odd since she was standing on a giant crab.

Emma looked around as she noticed the legs of the crab starting to struggle to stay on the ground. "W-what's happening?" The blue haired assassin, struggled to stay on as the large creature was casually tossed back into the empty canal flipped on to her back.

"W-wah!" Emma barely managed to get off in time as her creature struggled to turn back around. Emma quickly looked up to see Seilah hovering above her, the demon's wings were out stretched.

Seilah lifted both of her hands, two eyes appearing in the palm of her hand. She then rushed towards Emma and her creature, Seilah wings wrapping around her arms.

"H-hold on!" Emma quickly gave a small plea, which was promptly ignored as Seilah hands crashed into the underside of the crab. When it did a large orb of magic expanded completely consuming both Emma and her beast.

Seilah jumped back, ending her transformation as she looked at the large dust cloud that was created from her attack.

"Oh, perhaps I over did it, I think I made the canal wider..." Seilah sighed as the debris and stone finally cleared. In the wreckage was Emma unconscious body, next to her was what remained of the crab monster in tiny pieces. It then promptly faded away as Seilah scoffed.

"Such a sad state of affairs, I wonder if that odd owl-man has finished up." Just as she said that Seilah heard sounded like a missile going off in the air. She then looked towards the sky to see a red-haired woman fall back towards the earth.

"Oh, it seems that he has..." Seilah then looked back at Emma, "as much fun as it would be to torture you for your statements I'll save it for later...plus I have a better plan for you."

Seilah smiled as she jumped out of the ruined canal. Despite her victory, she couldn't help but feel a bit guilty over the damage she has caused. If only for the fact that she knew for a fact that citizens probably noticed.

She needed to meet back up with the others as quickly as possible and plan their next course of action.

 **Author note**

 **Originally this chapter was supposed to cut back between Hud, Lamy and Seilah. However I felt it was a bit too complicated so I decided to just do a chapter for each of them.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14  
**

 **The Cultist, the Demon and the Dragon Slayer**

Lamy held her breath wondering when the man on the other side of the door would leave, more importantly when everyone else was going to return. Being stuck in a room at a random inn wasn't the most appealing thing.

"..." Lamy couldn't even say a word. Whoever the person on the other side most likely could hear every noise there were making. Lamy grumbled pulling her ears again wondering what to do.

At that moment Frlea sprung to life in her arms mumbling something. Without talking he jumped out of Lamy's hands and towards a nearby wall. The room they had picked didn't have a window so they couldn't leave like that.

At least that is what Lamy assumed. Frlea on the other hand placed one of his roots onto the wall digging into the stone slightly. After a moment he removed it as the wall slowly started to crack apart.

Lamy tilted her head wondering what was happening before realizing what was going on.

"He must have planted a Lithophyte into the wall..." A lithphyte, otherwise known as plants that grow in or on stone and rocks. Most of the time when it happened it resulted in the stone breaking.

As more and more of the stone wall was chipped away a loud knock was heard on the door.

"You bastards! You don't think I hear what you are doing?"

Lamy felt a knot grow in her stomach. Despite Frlea almost being silent the guy on the other side was still able to hear them.

"Damn it, I guess I'm going to have to break Jellal's rule a bit." The moment Lamy heard those words the door to their room came crashing down. However just as it did Frlea finished the hole he was creating.

Lamy didn't even bother looking at the entrance as she grabbed Frlea and slipped through the hole jumping from the second floor into the foggy streets below.

"Shit, she's going to get away!" The maroon haired man went to after her before he heard someone call out his name.

"Erik, what are you doing?!" He hesitated as he turned around to see a white haired woman.

"I was just about to catch our target..." Erik turned around as the woman looked towards the doorway.

"That's not what I was talking about...we were supposed to keep a low-profile and keep damage to the city to a minimum..."

Erik sighed before shrugging. "I know, just figured that it's better we handle quickly. I'm pretty sure the dark-guilds that are here will do way more damage than a broken door."

He had a point but the woman still didn't like it. "If that is the case then we sho-" the white haired woman didn't finish her statement as she noticed a small girl standing at the end of the hall staring at her, or rather the destruction that Erik had caused to the door.

"W-wah,what are you guys doing?!" The small girl known as Gutrune shouted as the white haired woman groaned.

This was the one thing that she was worried about. Damages didn't just disappear when they left. Someone was going to have to pay for it.

Gurtrune quickly ran towards the busted door before peeking inside of the room. She noticed Erik still standing in the center, a hole in the back wall.

"MOM!" The small girl let out a shout loud enough that it caused Erik to shiver. He wondered if a normal human was even capable of such a pitch.

"No need to go and do something like that..." The white haired woman began to talk as the small girl quickly shook her head.

"You outsiders always do this sort of thing. Not only that, but that room belonged to a group of monsters and demons. What are you, hunters or something? Well I won't allow it, mom worked hard on this inn!"

The white-haired woman groaned, but there was something about the girl's statement that interested her. "You just mentioned demons, they were staying here?"

Gurtrune flinched realizing she probably said something she shouldn't have.

"...Mom!" Gurtrune cried out again, this time however she ran back down the hall leaving the two in a rather interesting position.

"Huh, I thought angels were supposed to be good with kids." Erik smiled as the white haired woman placed her hands on her hips.

"Never mind that, you just go after whoever it was in that room. I'll try to sort everything out with the innkeeper. Jellal would be upset if we just destroyed things without at leas giving a reason."

Erik scoffed at the comment. "You've gotten softer haven't you, well it doesn't matter I'll take care of it..." With that the man jumped through the hole that Lamy and Frlea created.

* * *

"D-do you think we got far enough?" Lamy whined peeking out of a nearby alleyway. As the night went on the fog got heavier and it was far more difficult to see in front of her.

"How should I know? You're the one that ran away like a coward." Frlea pointed out as Lamy sighed.

"No way we would be able to take those guys on...just call it a hunch. Right now we need to hurry up and find Hud and the others." Lamy slipped back into the dark alley hoping that no one would notice her.

Finding the others shouldn't have been too difficult. While the town was a decent size it wasn't like it was as large as a city. How hard could it have been to find the others while avoiding two mages.

As Lamy continued her way through the town she felt a chill run down her back. Despite knowing for a fact she got a decent amount of distance from the mages that were chasing her she still felt something creeping around.

"W-what's up with this? E-even though I'm the demon why do I feel like I am in a bad horror story!" Lamy cried as she looked behind her, but she saw nothing but fog.

Lamy took a deep breath, it was taking all of her not to scream out for the others. But she knew the moment she did whoever was tracking them would find her instantly. After all, if they were able to hear them whispering on the other side of a door they would probably hear her shouting in the middle of town. Plus, despite Frlea's terrible attitude he did offer her some kind of protection.

Right when Lamy was about to slip into another alley she collided with someone. She rubbed her nose quickly before shaking her head.

"Ah, what the..." She winced as her gaze went towards the person standing in front of her. "W-wait, you're..." Lamy froze as she took a few steps back, the one eyed man then smiled.

"So you are the one from the other side of the door huh?" The dark-red head grinned as Lamy bit her lip, however despite the situation she was in...

"T-this guy is kind of hot..." Lamy chocked out those words before quickly shaking her head. This was not the time to be thinking about the sex appeal of her enemy.

"W-what do you want? Are you apart of Death's Head Caucus?" Lamy's eyes narrowed as she felt Frlea's roots tightening around her shoulder. Perhaps the small plant creature was planning something.

The moment Lamy said that name Erik rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "So those guys really were here too huh?" At that moment he took another step towards Lamy as she took a step back. "I know you know where the piece of the cube is as well as the dragon slayer lacrima."

Lamy eyes widened, she knew about the cube piece. However she had no idea what he was talking about with a dragon slayer lacrima. That was before she recalled what Juliet was talking about when they captured.

She said something about sensing something strange coming from them. Could it have been the dragon slayer lacrima?

"Hey, stop spacing out and tell me where they are!" Erik's words snapped Lamy back to her current situation as grumbled.

"W-well, I have no idea where the lacrima is and I don't have the cube piece with me!" Lamy snapped before she continued. "Besides, it doesn't belong in the hands of humans..."

It was something that Lamy felt from the bottom of her heart. Regardless of what they did and why, the cube was apart of demon history...at least in a sense. Whether humans wanted to use it for their own gain, or seal it away due to its power they didn't have the right to decide that.

"I figured you'd say something like that..." Erik's eye darkened as he lifted his arm. He was about to do 'something' but before he could the small plant like creature on Lamy's shoulder's head opened up.

"W-what?" Erik eye twitched as a wave of pollen exited Frlea's body. It wasn't just a small amount either, there was enough yellow dust to fill the entire block.

Erik let out a cry as Lamy coughed, her nose were itchy. However before she could recover she felt Frlea tug on her ears again.

"Come on trash, run!" Frlea couldn't help but throw another insult Lamy's way, but she didn't bother complaining. She ran out of the mist of pollen to any random direction she could find.

This was actually a pretty horrible situation. No matter where Lamy went the enemy could track her down and she still didn't know where the others were.

Right when Lamy was about to turn the corner she collided with someone again. She felt over holding her nose, it felt like she had hit a metal wall of some kind.

"Oh, it's you..." A somewhat familiar voice called out to her as Lamy looked up frowning.

"You're...Jerome and Briar," Lamy got up. Even if they weren't exactly the people she wanted to see it was better than running into the hot pointed eared guy again. "What are you two doing back in town? I thought you were avoiding it until everything cooled down?"

At least that is what she thought the plan was. Honestly, how quickly everything was decided, it was rather vague on what they were doing. She mostly blamed Hud for wanting to rush the entire thing.

"That was the plan but..." Jerome started to speak as Briar quickly chimed in.

"Something came up, however, more importantly why are you running like you've seen a ghost?"

"Ah, that's right! Someone is chasing me right now!" Lamy didn't even hesitate to reply. However instead of the calm looks of concern she was expecting Briar face twisted in anger.

"What?! Weren't you guys supposed to take care of all the threats for us? You're a demon right? Why are you running away?!" Briar's eyes twitched as Lamy flinched.

Despite the situation they had a point. They only agreed to not cause anymore trouble with the condition of Demon Fang removing the rest of the threats for them.

"Calm down Briar, we don't know the situation yet..." Jerome closed his eyes before turning his attention towards Lamy. "How many of them are chasing you?"

Lamy thought for a moment. Even though there were two of them only one bothered to chase after her. "One, but there was someone else with him before I started to run away."

"I see, do you know any of his abilities?" Jerome asked digging for more information.

"Um, I know he can hear pretty well, but besides that I don't know anything." Lamy pointed out as Jerome sighed. He then looked over to the tiny creature that was hanging off of Lamy's shoulders.

"You can fight too right?" The blond man asked as Frlea scoffed.

"Of course, and unlike this rat here I'm actually useful!" Frlea pointed out as Jerome nodded.

"Then, we should have the advantage. It's four against one after all, even a powerful mage would have trouble dealing with all four of us."

"Is that for a fact? I feel like I'm being underestimated here..." The moment Jerome finished his statement they all heard a voice coming from the other end of the alley.

It was the same one-eyed man from earlier. Though his eye seemed to have been red as if he had been rubbing it. However, that wasn't the important part. What was important was Jerome and Briar's expressions.

They seemed horrified that they were even looking at this person, which didn't bode well in Lamy's mind.

"Cobra of Oracion Seis..." Briar groaned as Lamy knew why they were worried.

Oracion Seis was one of the dark guilds that Tartaros made an alliance quite some time ago. It was a three way unison with Grimoire Heart in attempt to enact Zeref's will.

Of course Lamy herself didn't have too much of a connection to the members of the other dark guilds. She mostly just knew them in passing as the so called alliance was more just a non-aggression treaty.

"Geez, I haven't heard someone reference those guys in awhile. You even threw in my code name for good measure..."Erik shrugged as Jerome glared at him.

"What do you want? Are you trying to resurrect Oracion Sies or..."

"Been there, done that. Right now I'm just working to stop dark mages like you lot."

The moment Erik said that Briar growled. "So you really are apart of the so called Crime Sorciere..."

Lamy was...losing track of the conversation. So many names and terms were being thrown around that it was kind of hard to see where it was all going.

"It doesn't really matter. I can smell the lacrima." Erik returned Briar's glare with his own. "If you just hand it over you guys can just fade back into the obscurity you deserve."

Jerome simply shook his head drawing his sword. "You already know the answer for that."

Briar simply smiled as she lowered her stance. "That's right, it's still four against one after all. Even if you were apart of Oracion Seis I doubt you'll be able to defeat all of us!"

Lamy body stiffed with those words. She was going to have to fight, honestly she hadn't gotten into an actual battle since the one against Fairy Tail on the cube, and that...didn't go well.

"You idiots have no idea who you're messing with." Erik smiled as he took a deep breath his eye narrowing. He then lifted one of his hands before placing it over his mouth. At that moment he let out a roar of red and black magic.

"W-what!" Lamy froze as both Jerome and Briar jumped out of the way.

"You idiot!" Without even thinking Frlea lifted his roots grabbing onto the nearby wall of the alley as he fling both him and Lamy to a nearby wall.

Briar, Jerome and Lamy cling to the walls of the alley as the street below was consumed by poison.

"T-that was a dragon's slayer roar..." Lamy stuttered as Erik laughed.

"That's right, now do you see how impossible for the likes of you to defeat me?" Erik eye quickly scanned the three picking the closest target. He honed in on Briar before jumping towards her.

"I've got you!" Erik opened his palm preparing to strike as Briar just looked on not changing her position.

"There!" The dragon slayer grinned as he felt his palm hit something. At that moment a strange sound crashed through the air as a large chunk of the building was blown away.

Yet...

"Ah, where did she g-" Erik groaned as he felt a sharp strike hit his back pushing him off the building. While in the air he turned his head to see Briar still clinging to the wall...or rather two of her.

One was still clinging to the wall holding the new created clone falling into the miasma filled street below.

"Now Scruffy, you dumbass!" One of the Briar's shouted as Jerome sighed. Out of all the ones she could have split into, it had to be the angry one.

Still, Jerome didn't hesitate as he kicked off the wall jumping towards his enemy. His sword raised. Without even thinking he brought the sword down on his enemy.

At least that is what he thought, Erik simple blocked the sword with his bare-hands.

"You really shouldn't have done that, this blade corrodes anything it touches...even flesh." Jerome expected Erik hand to fall off, but instead the dragon slayer just smiled.

"Are you serious, do you expect such a weak poison to affect me?" Erik's hand morphed into something similar to a claw gripping Jerome's blade he kicked the blond swordsmen into the wall.

"Gah!" Jerome let out a cry as he failed to grip back onto the wall falling towards the poisonous ground

"J-Jerome!" Briar cried out as Frlea grumbled.

If one of them died it would have been a pain. Without a moment of noticed Frlea detached half of his body. In an instant it made a wide net over the the sea of poison catching the former Avatar member.

Erik grumbled clinging to the wall, this time glaring at Lamy and Frlea.

"Eek! N-now look at what you've done, he's going to aim for us next!"

"Then you better move rabbit!" Frlea snapped as Erik glared at the two before lifting his free hand. He then grinned, and with a wave of his hand a strange stream of red and black jetted through the air

"Wah!" Lamy cried instinctively grabbing onto the side of the wall pushing herself back. Still, the attack was easily going to catch her...that was at least until the poisonous magic actually reached her.

For some reason, despite it not being a solid object, Lamy managed to slip around it before landing onto the net with Jerome.

Erik groaned, it seemed that unless it was a direct hit grazing her would have been impossible. He looked over at Briar who was still clinging to the wall before glancing down at Frlea, Jerome and Lamy who was on the flimsy net.

"I'll just take you all out in a single move!" Erik kicked off the wall before jumping into the air. Waving both of his arms a magic circle appeared in front of him. This time however, instead of a roar large sharp waves appeared striking in all directions completely filling the entire area in a thick mist.

Erik smiled as all four of his enemies vanished from his sight. Though looking at the destruction even he admitted that he went too far.

"Shit, I hope I didn't get too much poison into the buildings." With a deep breath Erik sucked up all the poison from the surrounding area. Dragon slayers didn't get any power from eating their own magic and it was far more complicated to do so, however he couldn't just leave the mess there.

Jellal would have freaked out, and truthfully he already caused enough problems for the people living there. After all his entire reason for joining Crime Sorciere was to prevent that sort of stuff from happening not start doing it again.

Besides, he was positive would be near death with the amount of poison he spewed.

Once he sucked up all the poison and dispersed it he was expecting to see four people lying on the ground. What he didn't expect was to see was a large plant like pod in the middle of the alley.

"What?" Erik eye twitched as the pod started to move. It then split open as Lamy, Jerome, Briar and Frlea all came out of it.

Frlea was reduced to only a head, but besides that they were completely unscratched by both the force of the attack.

"Y-you saved us Frlea..." Lamy coughed as she could hear the plant creature grumble.

"Yeah, but I lost my body again you worthless idiots! Do you know how long it takes for me to grow that back, and now I'm pretty much useless!" Frlea pointed out as Briar looked over to Erik.

They still hadn't touched him and they were all out of safety nets.

"Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way..." Erik lifted his hands preparing to strike again before stopping himself. His ear twitched as he turned his attention to a nearby building. "Another enemy?"

Lamy and the rest followed his stare as they too looked over to the building near the alleyway to see someone standing there staring at them.

It was a girl, with bright-pink hair and green eyes. Her hair was tied into two large pigtails with a dress that matched the color of her hair. In her hand was a large jagged blade with what seemed like stickers and pink paint all over it.

The first thing that came to mind was how tacky the entire outfit looked. The large blue bow sticking from the girl's hair didn't help. Though despite all of that, Lamy attention wasn't focused on what she was wearing, but rather...

"Ikaruga?" Lamy tilted her head. That was the thing that entered the slippery demon's head. The girl looked like a younger version Ikaruga with far poorer choice in clothing style.

"Talk about a low level battle...I can't believe everyone else lost and I have to play clean up duty." The girl sighed as she lifted the blade that was nearly twice her size over her shoulder.

With a single leap she jumped from the building she was standing on into the alley getting between Erik and the others.

"Who are you?" Erik glared as the girl sighed.

"Aw, don't be like that~ That's no way to greet a cute girl like me!" The girl smiled as Lamy felt an uneasiness coming from her. As if she was questioning if the person in front of her was completely human.

Lamy then noticed a marking on the back of the girl's neck. It was the mark of Death Head Caucus. Lamy frowned, she wanted to ask the girl a single question.

"Y-you, do you know Ikaruga?" Lamy wondered if she should have spoke as the girl casually turned her head towards the bunny-eared demon.

"Oh, you know big sis Ikaruga? Well she was always kind of a failure so her knowing trash like you isn't that big of a surprise." The girl shrugged as Erik eye twitched.

"I asked you a question!" Erik snapped as the girl turned her attention back to the dragon slayer.

"Sorry, I have no interest in pushy guys like you. So I'll take care of you in an instant." Despite her words the girl didn't move, she just looked at Erik as the Crime Sorciere raised his arms.

The two just stared at one another until...

"What?!" It was instantaneous, the dragon didn't have a chance to react before a large hurricane of wind swept him away straight through the city leaving a wake of destruction.

Jerome, Briar, Lamy and Frlea just looked on in horror as the enemy the four of them couldn't even touch was removed from the battle in an instant. The only indication that the girl even lifted her blade was the fact her hand was on her handle.

"I-I didn't even see her lift her sword yet she was able to swing it with enough force to cause something like that..." Jerome was completely petrified as the girl turned her attention back to the four of them.

"Now, about that lacrima..."

 **Author note**

 **Cliffhanger! Another fun chapter to write, this arc actually has been going on for longer than I thought (It started on chapter 18) I think this is technically the longest arc so far in both the amount of chapters and their length.**

 **Probably will take a break for the rest of the month to write some other things.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15  
**

 **A Conclusion?**

Jerome, Lamy, Frlea and Briar the pink-haired girl, none of them moved a muscle. They didn't want to suffer the same fate that befell Erik after all.

"That's strange, I asked for the lacrima, but you guys aren't speaking." The girl pouted as she took a step towards them. Her blade still tightly in her grasp.

They couldn't have encountered anyone worse even if they had tried. Still...

"We don't have much of a choice..." Jerome drew his blade as Briar flinched.

"Scruffy, maybe we should just..." Briar started as Jerome cut her off.

"You know full well if we had that option we wouldn't be in this situation. Besides, do you honestly think she would just let us walk away? If she is apart of Death Head Caucus, she'll kill us regardless if we put up a fight."

The girl giggle at the blond knight prepared his sword.

"You aren't as stupid as I thought. Though I like how earnest you are, once I kill everyone else here I might keep you as my pet or something." The girl lifted blade as Jerome prepared for the worst...however.

"Huh?" His eyes widened as the girl vanished. Before anyone could notice there was sharp cry of pain as everyone instantly turned their attention to Briar.

The white-haired woman was already on the ground in a pool of her blood. A large gash was coming from her stomach all the way to her chest. Jerome looked in horror as the pink haired girl stood over the former Avatar cultist holding the lacrima they were trying so hard to protect.

"Briar..." Jerome looked in horror as his companion laid bleeding on the ground. Lamy and Frlea looked on in equal terror, less due to what had just happened and more in a horrible realization.

"I-I couldn't see her movements at all..." Lamy whispered as the pink-haired girl turned her attention to the demon and the plant monster.

"Now for you two..."

"W-wah!" Lamy didn't even have to think about it. She quickly grabbed Frlea and ran as fast as possible to the other end of the alley. She kept going from bad situation to bad situation and she just wanted the whole thing to stop.

However, Lamy barely made it a few steps as she felt a foot implant itself into her face. She was kicked with enough force to cause her to bounce off the walls of the alley.

Despite it only having been a simple kick Lamy was barely able to move her body. She lifted her head slightly noticing that she dropped Frlea.

"Ah, your neck isn't broken. It seems that you demons are a bit sturdier than I thought." The pink-haired girl snickered as she stood over Lamy her blade over her head. "Welp, I'm about to take your head..."

Lamy's heart dropped. There was nothing she could do; she was about to die again without even doing anything. Then again, considering she wasn't even the original Lamy, it was fitting.

"T-this is the worst." Tears started to run down Lamy's eyes as the pink-haired girl grinned.

"That look, I love it when people make it before they die~" The pink-haired girl stated almost humming to herself.

"L-Lamy!" Frlea called out the demon's name as the Death Head Caucus member brought down her sword, but the blade never reached Lamy.

"Huh?" The girl looked at the sword that was impeded into the ground. "Where did she go?" The girl scanned the area before two people came into view.

Lamy finally opened her eyes, noticing that she was being carried by someone. She looked up to see a familiar face.

"H-Hud!" Lamy cried in joy as she buried her head into the monster's chest.

"Geez Lamy, you guys looked like you were about to die!" Hud just laughed as Lamy took a deep breath, her eyes were nearly bloodshot from all of her crying.

"Don't say that you don't know what kind of hell I've been put through since you guys left the inn," Lamy whined as she heard someone scoff. Lamy turned her head slightly to see Juliet standing next to h im with the most irritating look.

"You might want to put that demon down Hud. Her tears might carry some disease."

Lamy was tempted to fire an insult back, but she was too tired to think of anything.

"Hud!" Another voice called out, this time it was Frlea rolling towards his friend.

"Hey Frlea, you lost your body again huh?" Hud just laughed as the plant creature grumbled.

"Stop saying that like it's not a big deal! It is tough to grow back!" Frlea reminded his friend as Hud turned his attention to Jerome and Briar.

Jerome had already sat Briar up; her wound was still open as Hud glanced over to Frlea. "Hey, even if you don't have any arms or legs, do you think you could stitch that lady up?"

Frlea was taken aback by the request, but it wasn't like he had any right to refuse. As much as the plant monster would hate to admit it, he and Lamy were only alive because of those two. Making sure she didn't die was the least he could do.

"Alright, but it's going to take a bit longer without my limbs." Frlea rolled his way towards Jerome and Briar as Hud and Juliet turned their attention to the pink-haired girl.

"Hey Lamy, can you move?" Hud asked as Lamy's eyes widened.

"Y-yeah...a bit." Lamy replied as Hud set her down on the ground.

"You must be that Hud guy that Den was talking about." The pink-haired girl snickered as Hud eyes widened.

"Ah, you know that diamond guy?" Hud replied as the girl simply shrugged before lifting her blade.

"Well, it's only natural, but enough about pointless stuff like that. Do you two honestly think you can take me on?" The girl stated as Hud scanned her before turning his attention to Juliet.

"Oy, Juliet kick her butt," Hud stated bluntly as Juliet's eyes twitched.

"What?! By myself? Aren't you going to help?" Juliet placed her hands on her hips as Hud simply crossed his arms.

"You see...then it'd be two against one, and that's not very fair." Hud lifted one of his fingers as Juliet's eyes narrowed.

"You dummy, who cares about that? She tried to kill Lamy and the others, let's just hurry up and take her out."

"Gosh Juliet, I care..." Hud pouted as the pink-haired girl stated to tap her foot. She didn't know what was worst, the fact that she was being ignored. Or the fact she was being ignored for such a childish conversation.

"How about I just kill you both right now!" The girl took a step forward as both Hud's, and Juliet's eyes narrowed.

Lamy tensed as she waited for the next blow. The sound of the street cracking echoed through the air. Lamy looked over to where Hud and Juliet were once standing.

The girl's sword was embedded into the ground as she grumbled.

"I missed both of them..." The girl groaned as Juliet and Hud stood on the nearby buildings.

"Woah, she is so fast! Is she really human?" Hud asked as Juliet crossed her arms.

"Honestly, I can barely keep up. She seems pretty dangerous." Juliet stated as Hud grinned his eyes widening.

"This is so exciting! Forget it! I'll fight her myself!" Hud took a step forward as if he was about to step off the building. The moment he did the building he was standing on roof cracked.

Hud was like a rocket as the pink-haired girl raised her blade blocking the attack. The sound of bending metal entered her ears.

"Tsk, I can see how this guy could break diamonds..." The overwhelming force of Hud's strike started to cause the ground to crack. The girl could feel her bones starting to shake despite using her sword to stop the blow.

"Gah!" Hud eyes dilated as he took another swing, but the only thing he hit was the ground beneath. "Huh, it looks like I miss..." Hud looked at his fist for a moment as he turned his head to the pink-haired girl.

"So, you aren't human..." The girl pressed her finger to her lips as Hud crossed her arms.

"Yeah? Well, you smell and look like someone I know." Hud scanned the girl; there was no doubt about it. The girl in front of him had some connection to Ikaruga or something.

The girl was about to make another move as she flinched. It was clear that someone else was heading their way.

Hud lifted his head slightly as if he was sniffing the air. "These smells...it must be Fukuro and Seilah, they must have won their fights too!" Hud laughed as the girl grumbled.

The Death Head Caucus member didn't like the idea of fighting even more of them. She may have been powerful, but a four on one battle against actual competent fighters could be a problem.

"As much fun as it has been playing with you, I have to go now~." The girl winked at Hud who just glared.

"What, you running away?" Hud shifted his position as the girl shrugged.

"Running away? Think of it as a tactical retreat, plus I got what I came here for anyway." The girl lifted her blade reflecting what seemed to be non-existent. Hud was instantly blinded as if the sun was shined in his eyes.

Once he quickly wiped his eyes, Hud looked around. The girl had vanished entirely leaving Hud with a frown on his face.

"I guess chasing her would be pointless..." Hud crossed his arms before noticing a rocket flying through the air. It was Fukuro, and he wasn't alone. It appeared that he was also carrying Seilah.

Hud waved as the owl-headed assassin landed. The rocket vanished from his back as he let go of Seilah the two of them scanning the battle-torn alley and street. It was a mess, to say the least, despite wanting to keep the town in decent shape the exact opposite happened.

"I guess you two won your fights huh?" Hud placed his hands on his hips as Seilah quietly scoffed.

"Naturally, if you believe that any human could match a demon then you must be a fool." Seilah threw in an insult, but Hud just laughed it off.

"Hud, I should apologize. I wasn't able to keep damage to a minimum like you asked. I had more trouble then a hero of justice should have." Fukuro stated as Hud shrugged.

"No worries, I think everyone was surprised just how strong everyone was," Hud replied before noticing Juliet jumping down from a nearby building.

"You say that Hud, but this entire trip has been way more trouble than what I expected," Juliet stated before she continued. "Not only that, we should talk to the townspeople about what has been happening."

Juliet wasn't a bleeding heart. She didn't have too much concern about the people and monsters of the town. However, despite that, they couldn't just wreck half the town and just leave.

All of them had been doing a terrible job at keeping their identity hidden. What was worse was the fact that Seilah's curse didn't work on monsters or those with monster blood. Meaning that even if they wanted to make everyone forget they couldn't.

"That's all fine, but we should check on Frlea and the others first. That one white-haired lady got hurt." Hud pointed that out as Seilah crossed her arms.

"I suppose we should back to the inn and decide our next move from there..."

* * *

Erik's eye snapped open as he leaned up. A pile of broken wood and stone was around his body as he noticed an angel staring down upon him.

"Oh, it's you...took you long enough." The dragon slayer groaned rubbing the back of his head.

"You say that, but you're the one that got flung halfway across the town." Sorano pointed that out with a smile. She grabbed Erik's arm helping him out of the rubble as Erik dusted himself off.

"Damn it...I'm going back and tear that woman apart!" Erik bit his bottom lip as Sorano let a sigh.

"Don't bother; we are going back and reporting to what we found to Jellal." Sorano pointed that out as Erik groaned still pulling out chunks of wood and stone from his hair.

"What, are you scared or something?" Erik asked as Sorano remained silent if only for a moment.

"Perhaps, all I know is that we don't have the tools. At least not just the two of us." Sorano was being as blunt as possible as Erik grumbled looking at the roof of the building he was sent through.

There was a giant hole where he crashed through. Sorano had a point, even if he didn't want to admit it. They had two dark guilds to worry about, one of which most likely filled with demons.

"Did you talk to the inn owners or whatever?" Erik said as the two of them walked out of the building.

"Yes, but it seems the situation is a lot more complicated than I thought. I don't even completely understand it, but...I do not believe the people of this town are completely human." Sorano stated as Erik crossed his arms.

"Huh, what are you talking about?" Sure the people of the town smelled off, but to call them something other than human...

"Don't worry about it, I'll tell Jellal when we get back."

* * *

"Gosh, I guess we're pretty lucky that they let us keep our room despite everything." Hud laughed as he sat on the floor looking at the giant hole that Frlea had made in the back wall.

Briar was laying on one of the free beds, stitches made out of vines ran across her body. Jerome was sitting next to her as Seilah glared at the two, Lamy, on the other hand, was holding her cheek that had swollen from the kick she had received.

Frlea head had shrunk to an even smaller size, most likely due to him stitching up Briar without an actual body.

"So, will we remain here until she recovers or..." Fukuro was the first one to speak about their next course of action as Juliet followed.

"I don't see the point of that, but..." The brown-haired demon eyes cut towards Jerome and the unconscious Briar. "Some of us have been keeping a few secrets that could have helped us out."

Jerome groaned it seemed there wasn't much point in keeping any secrets at that point. The lost the lacrima, and there wasn't much to do about it.

"Very well, I suppose all of you already know that we were keeping a dragon slayer lacrima from you." The knight stated as the rest nodded.

"We already know about that, now please tell us how you acquired such an item and why the Death Head Caucus was after you?" Seilah gave more of a demand than a request.

"...Do you know of a man called God Serena, well knew of him in this case." Jerome stated as Juliet's eyes widened from hearing a name she recognized.

"Ah, what does this have to do with that guy?" Juliet frowned.

God Serena was one of Spriggan 12. Also ranked first among the ten wizard saints.

"The thing is, that guy is dead," Jerome said.

"Eh? Is that some joke?" Juliet replied, then again she didn't know the current state of the Alvarez Empire.

"Who cares about that, what does a dead guy have to do with any of this?" Hud asked as Jerome sighed.

"Let me finish..." Jerome stated as he cleared his throat. "After his death the Death Head Caucus found his body and found a way to extract the eight lacrima from it."

"I assume the lacrima that was in your possession was one of those?" Seilah asked as Jerome nodded.

"Yes, once me and Briar found out about that we decided to enter their ranks and wait for the chance to take one for ourselves." Jerome finally gave the information that they needed.

"That explains why they were chasing you..."Lamy continued to hold her cheek as the conversation continued.

"To think...the Death Head Caucus would be collecting Dragon Slaying lacrimas." Fukuro whispered to himself as Hud scratched his head.

"Gosh, I don't know anything about these lacrimas or whatever, but if you stole something from them of course they are going to be angry with you." Hud stated the obvious.

"My question is why would the two of you need a dragon slayer lacrimas. Or rather why would you two steal one and not use it?" Juliet asked as Jerome stopped talking.

"That is...something you have to ask Briar when she wakes up." It wasn't the most satisfying answer, but at least they had a basic idea of how Jerome and Briar got in their current situation they were in.

"I suppose it doesn't matter; we got what we came here for," Seilah said as she pulled out the piece of the cube. It levitating slightly above her hand. "What happens with you and the dragon slayer lacrimas means nothing to me."

Seilah was being blunt as Fukuro added something.

"I agree...however, chances are the Death Head Caucus will continue to chase them down even if they got the lacrima back," Fukuro said that as Jerome crossed his arms glancing over at Briar.

"This was...our fault, so I don't expect any pity," Jerome stated as Hud just laughed.

"You can say that again. You can't just steal stuff and not expect something bad to happen to you. You two are probably going to end up dead sooner or later because of it." Despite Hud's cheerful tone, his words were far harsher than they needed to be.

Lamy, on the other hand, remained silent as she looked over to Jerome and Briar. A frown slowly crept on her face before she took a deep breath. "Hud...could I ask you something?"

"Hmm, yeah, go ahead!" Hud replied as Lamy took a deep breath. What she was going to ask probably was going to step a few boundaries, but it was something that needed to be done.

"Could, they maybe...join our guild?" Lamy just came out and said it as Seilah glared at the bunny-eared demon.

"Do not be foolish; those two would be completely useless to us, right Monster?" Seilah glanced over to Hud who remained silent.

"Lamy, why do you want them to join?" That was Hud's only question as Lamy pressed her fingers together as if she was trying to make a good excuse.

"You see, we were being chased by another guild before the rest of you showed up. If it weren't for those two them, me and Frlea probably would have been taken out way before you guys showed up."

Lamy glanced over to Frlea who grumbled.

"As much as I hate to agree with Lam- er I mean dumpster, but she has a point. Those two did help us."

Hud crossed his arms as he looked over to Seilah. "Do you mind? Besides, me Frlea and Lamy you are one of the founding members after all." Hud asked as Seilah gave an irritated sigh.

"You are just going to do what you want regardless of what I think. Do as you please."

Hud just laughed as he turned to Jerome. "Looks like you two are a part of Demon Fang now. I mean, even if you guys really are weak." Hud was painfully blunt like usual.

"You didn't even let us have a choice in the matter." Jerome said as Hud shrugged.

"Alright, you guys either join Demon Fang and we can protect you, or not and be killed by those cactus guys."

"That's not a choice, that's an ultimatum." Jerome complained but with Briar in her current condition it wasn't like he could say no. "Though it's not like we can say no."

"Great, now we're just one member away from fight fairies!" Hud smiled, a part of Seilah wondered if that was his main reason for accepting them into the guild.

"Anyway, I should tell you lot that after I defeated one of the Death Head Caucus members I put her under my curse." Seilah stated as Frlea rolled around a bit before replying.

"Yeah, what does that do?" The plant monster asked as Seilah sighed having to explain herself.

"It means we can now get information from them. At the very least I may be able to take control of her at will."

Hud thought about it for a moment before standing up. "I don't really get it, but I'll leave the boring stuff to you." Hud stretched looking at his burned and torn clothing.

"Where are you going Hud?" Juliet asked as the monster boy scratched his head.

"Well, since we are probably going to be stuck here for a few more days I'm going to ask the inn lady if I could help the town fix some of the stuff in town tomorrow." Before anyone could ask why Hud left the room to the confusion of the guild-mates.

"That is uncharacteristically kind of Hud." Fukuro stated as Frlea chimed in.

"Hud is a selfish idiot, but we also did wreck the town for the monsters here. He wouldn't just leave it like that without doing something to help."

It was a decent explanation as the rest of the group started to relax. Lamy, however, turned her attention towards Frlea picking up the small plant-like creature.

"Wah, what are you doing trash bag?" The plant creature whined as Lamy smirked.

"When you're like this you can't do much of anything huh?" Lamy stated as Frlea grumbled.

"I'm only like this because I kept having to save your worthless ass," Frlea stated as Lamy paused.

"Hey, remember when that pink-haired girl was about to kill me, and we were freaking out...I thought I heard you call my name."

No, Lamy was certain she heard Frlea call her name.

"As if! There is no way a monster would ever worry about a weak demon like you!"

That was the kind of reply Lamy was expecting. "Ah, I guess you're right. Having an ugly little thing call out to me would be the worst, why couldn't it have been Hud or a cute guy." Lamy gave a longing sigh.

"You worthless trash bunny! You'll never get Hud to say that for someone like you!"

"Hey, a plant wouldn't understand my amazing charms~" Lamy stated as Juliet gave an audible scoff.

"I guess you're cute in a gross way. Like a pet frog." Juliet tilted her head as Lamy groaned.

"I don't need someone who uses actual mucus to compare me to a frog!"

Jerome looked at the scene wondering if he had made the right decision to join such a guild.

 **Author note**

 **I might a short conclusion for this arc. Like seeing the group leave and some other stuff. This has been the longest arc so far. And it has been pretty fun to write.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16  
**

 **Crafting a Guild House**

"We're Back!" Hud cheered as he and the others stepped inside of their broken down Guild hall...or at least that is what it should have been.

The interior had a completely different atmosphere to it compared to when they left. Pink flowers were planted around the tables and the wood had a strange shine to it, in stark contrast to what had bee rotten wood before.

"Oh, the rest of you have return, and it appears that you have brought more people with you as well." Everyone's eyes shifted to the nearby stairway, it was Ikaruga slowly stepping down from what appeared to be a newly crafted second floor.

"Ikaruga! You look a lot better than you did before." Hud grinned as the pink-haired woman sighed.

"You lot took more than a week to get back, did you actually believe that I would do nothing?" Ikaruga made a good point, even ignore that fact she probably didn't want to stay in a broken down hut they called a guildhouse.

"Wait...we were gone for an entire week." Frlea frowned, considering it took a couple of days to go from back the country of Enca. It wasn't that farfetched that the trip would take long.

"Well, in the long run it doesn't matter too much. We got another piece of the cube!" Lamy gave a laugh that could only be describe as an odd snort before she held out the piece of the demonic item. She then walked up to the large glass container in the middle of the room examining it.

"It seems that you did not touch the Hell's Core." Seilah noticed as Ikaruga quickly replied.

"That thing...unsettles me. Even ignoring that, I have no doubt in my mind I would have damaged it if I ended up going near it." Ikaruga may have been an assassin, but she was still human. Going near something like that could only be described as bad luck.

"Anyway, Monster, who are these two here?" Ikaruga eyes shifted to Jerome and Briar.

"Oh, these two? These guys are just a couple of weaklings that we picked up along the way. Don't worry, they'll probably get themselves killed sooner or later!" Hud laughed as Jerome groaned.

"You could have introduced us with a bit more tact than that..." Jerome stated as he held Briar.

It was clear that she hadn't fully recovered from her injuries from before. However she was well enough to move without putting too much strain on her body.

"I will have you know that we were apart of Avatar, we were capable of summoning a god!" Briar had to point that out as Ikaruga stared at the white haired woman before giving a sideways glance.

"I...have no idea who that is." Ikaruga's words caused Briar to visibly cringe. Her words hurt far more than any sword could.

"Well, I guess that is to be expected. If these guys were considered high-ranked members then they probably weren't worth remembering." Juliet shrugged.

"You know, you remind me a lot of someone I used to know..." Briar eyes narrowed as Juliet gave a shrug.

"Well, regardless of all of that. I have something I wish to speak to Fukuro and Monster about recent events." Ikaruga pointed out as Fukuro crossed his arms.

"I see, in all honesty I had something I needed to share with you from our trip." Fukuro pointed out causing Hud to laugh.

"Yeah me too. I met a weird girl that looked a lot like you and was wondering if you two were related or something." Hud said something rather bluntly as Ikaruga groaned.

"You really do need to learn a bit more tact. We're not talking here, we're going to speak on the second floor." Ikaruga words caused Seilah to glance over to the swordswomen.

"Oh? Is there something you wouldn't like sharing with all of us?"

"It has nothing to do with demons. Besides, I am quite sure that there are things that you keep to yourself." Ikaruga response was good enough for the time being as Fukuro, Hud and Ikaruga.

Compared to the top floor the second floor seemed to have been lazily thrown together. The floor was weak and wasn't anything up there, it seemed closer to an attic than an actual floor.

"Gosh Ikaruga, what happened did you get lazy or something?" Hud laughed.

"My apologies, but if you take note, this sword is not a hammer. I'm an assassin, not a carpenter."

"Fair enough, so what do you want to talk about?" Hud asked.

"Well, first would be our general location and our guild. As you know, we do not currently have a guildmark either. As a result I-" Ikaruga cut herself off as she noticed Hud completely bored expression. "Do you really need that look across your face?"

"I mean, this seems really boring..." Hud frowned as he could hear both Ikaruga and Fukuro let out a sigh.

"Listen Monster, you are a guild master, even if we are a dark guild there are still certain things that need to be done. Like I said, we don't even have a guild mark, and no one is going to be giving us jobs like this."

"Jobs...?" Hud tilted his head, this time it was Fukuro that spoke.

"Hud, if I may be blunt. Do you know the first thing about running a guild, or even being a guild master?"

"S-sure, you have the be strong...and stuff..." Hud replied as Ikaruga bit her thumb. She felt like she was a school teacher trying to explain basic things.

"I have decided to ignore your responses and get back on topic. Now, back to the guild mark. While the rest of you were gone I went out of the way to design three of them. While I haven't gotten the stamp to make the print I will show it to you later."

Hud didn't really have a response to that. She had a point, they actually did need a real guild mark. Though he honestly didn't really care about getting the guild well known or famous.

"Okay, I'll show them to everyone else." Hud response was satisfactory as Ikaruga went on.

"Next is...our money issue. We are not making any jewels, this was not an issue when we only had around six members, however we currently have nine. We need a bigger guild hall. We also need actual running water, baths, showers among other things."

The amount of times Ikaruga had to go to the nearby town and just for a decent bath was staggering. And while she was able to make the guild hall 'look' pretty it still wasn't that much better than when Hud and the others left for their trip.

"Ah, well monsters don't really need that sort of thing..."

"But people do." Ikaruga quickly shot down Hud's comment before continuing. "That is where jobs come in play, right now no one actually knows that we exist. Unfortunately the only way we can do this sort of thing is by doing smaller jobs. Luckily we are a dark guild so there is no limit or restriction to the jobs we can do, however we need to make money between that."

"Oh, huh, how do we do that?" Hud asked as Ikaruga almost gave a warm smile.

"While I would not call our current guild members amazing by any stretch of the imagination. They all do have a certain set of skills that will help us with that. Between the hall we got from our raid of the Rune Knight base and our other skills we should be able to make enough to have a basic functioning guild house."

"Man all this stuff sure is boring..." Hud sighed finally taking a seat, a part of him knew that the conversation wasn't going to be over any time soon.

"The entire point of having a guild house is so we have a place to return to and rest. If it does not complete that function then it should just be cut into pieces."

"I get it, but what should we do to make money?"

"You are good at hunting animals are you not Monster? Plus due to your sheer strength there are probably creature that only you can hunt in the area." Even ignoring that, there probably wasn't that many guilds in the area of Midi.

All the towns were rather small, and Ikaruga highly doubted that there was even a Rune Knight base nearby.

"Gosh, I got it. Can we move on now?" Hud whined causing Ikaruga to wonder if Hud actually got what he was saying.

"I guess talking any longer would be pointless, much similar to a summer wind...you two have something you wish to talk to me about?" Ikaurga changed the subject as Hud nodded.

"Yeah, when we were looking for the cube piece I saw a girl that looked a lot like you. She was probably working for those cactus guys and I was wondering if you had some sort of sister or something."

Ikaruga eyes widened for a moment as she spoke under her breath. Fukuro took note of the change as he started to speak.

"Not only that, but it seems that Death Head Caucus have gotten a few new members along with the old ones getting stronger. I wanted to talk to you about it, but it seems like Hud has already brought up the topic."

The atmosphere was oddly tense. At least that is what the young monster got from the scene.

"...Ikaruga, could you tell me more about the leader of these Cactus guys?" Hud was once again blunt, but perhaps that is what he needed to be for this situation.

"I am honestly amazed that even after hearing the name so many times you keep getting it wrong. Well, I suppose if I am truly going to be apart of this guild there is no point and still keeping anything else from you."

Ikaruga paused for a moment before continuing. "However, I will not tell you, give me a few minutes alone and I shall be down to tell everyone."

Hud honestly didn't care THAT much, whatever information Ikaruga was keeping it couldn't have been that bad. After all, he was a monster, the only thing he had to do was get stronger and make sure he kept his promises to his guildmates.

"Alright, but don't be too long!" Hud walked back downstairs noticing that Fukuro didn't follow him.

"Is it really wise for us to give them that sort of information?" Fukuro spoke as Ikaruga shrugged.

"I do not think fondly of Seilah, but I believe the others can be trusted. Well, first of all if Monster really wanted to betray us he probably would have done it by now. Besides, it's unfitting a hero of justice to worry about such things."

"I suppose you are right..."

* * *

"Hey!" Hud smiled as he walked down the stairs noticing everyone else was in what would probably be their usual spots.

Frlea was checking Briar's wound along with Jerome on one of the free beds. The other bed in the corner of the room was being used by Seilah who was sitting crossed legged with a lacrima floating above her hands.

Lamy was working on the hell's core. It was apparent that there was still a long way to go before they had a functioning cube, and finally Juliet was reading one of the many books they had with Lamy's gale-force glasses.

"So, what did Ikaruga want anyway?" Frlea asked as Hud shrugged.

"She said that she is going to tell all of us once she gets down." Hud replied taking a seat at the base of the steps and letting out a yawn. "She also told me a bunch of boring guild stuff that I'm probably going to make Lamy do."

"D-don't say that while I'm standing right here!" Lamy whined as Juliet spoke next.

"Hud, I hope there is something more to do out here than read books. This is really boring..." Juliet stated.

"Perhaps you would enjoy reading more if you didn't ruin every book you touched by wearing those silly glasses." Seilah chimed in still staring at the lacrima.

"You don't like the gale-force reading glasses Seilah?" Lamy asked as Seilah nodded.

"Of course not, books are something that should be enjoyed slowly piece by piece. Rushing through it like that completely ruins the point of the activity. It would be like watching a play, but you skip every other scene."

"Kehehe, it seems you're pretty old-fashioned when it comes to books huh?" Hud added.

"It is not about being 'old-fashioned' it's just common sense." Seilah quickly added, though it was clearly more of a defense than anything.

"Anyway Juliet, if you want to do something you could always train with me. I never actually got to fight you and it would be fun!" Hud grinned as Juliet grumbled.

"Don't be stupid, I wouldn't be able to beat you. Plus you'd probably be too rough and hurt me. Besides I really only like training by myself and with Heine."

"Heine is the person you are looking for right?" Hud asked as Juliet nodded.

"Yep, she is way too strict and kind of a stick in the mud. She would probably call Monster instead of Hud now that I think about it." Juliet paused for a moment thinking about her statement.

"Um, Hud, Monster is your family name right?" Juliet just assumed since that is what Ikaruga and Seilah called him and both were rather proper with their speech. However she also realized that he called himself Monster Hud.

"Ah, family name? Well everyone in my family is also called Monster with another name attached to it if that is what you mean."

"So it is your family name..." Juliet thought about it for a moment. Did all monsters share the name Monster? Frlea didn't even seem to have a secondary name. Just as Juliet was about to ask more questions Ikaruga and Fukuro came down the stairs.

Hud stood up smiling. "Ah, so you are finally ready to talk?" Hud asked as Ikaruga sighed.

"It is really not that impressive." Ikaruga stated as she and Fukuro walked past Hud who was still sitting on the steps as the pink-haired swordswoman stood in the center of the room.

"As most of you know, we have been encountering Death Head Caucus members lately. The guild master is my mother..." Ikaruga just came out and said it.

While a few of the newer members flinched most of the older ones simply remained silent. Knowing full well that wasn't the only thing that Ikaruga wanted to talk about.

"Not only that but...she is also currently the CEO of the Heart Kreuz company." This time Ikaruga said that as if it meant something. However she was just greeted with blank expressions.

"Who that?" Hud replied, which honestly Ikaruga expected from someone like him.

"Is that name supposed to mean something?" Seilah was the next one to ask as it slowly dawned on Ikaruga the group of people she was talking to.

Most of them were demons or monsters. It made sense they wouldn't really care about a popular fashion brand no matter how popular it was across earthland.

"Really guys? It's one of the most popular fashion label. They mostly sell women's clothing, but they are huge around the world." Briar stated as Juliet gave a sly grin.

"Huh? Why would a cultist know about a fashion brand?"

"Just because I was in a cult doesn't mean I didn't care about how I was dressed. Besides, I wasn't the hugest fan of their style, it was a friend of mine." Briar stated as Hud looked back over to Ikaruga.

"Gosh, that is nice to know and all, but what does this have to do with anything?"

"It means that that the Death Head Caucus has access to funding that most other dark guilds could only dream of, from weapons to equipment. Not only that, but since most of the other major dark guilds have been destroyed they probably are trying to get on top." Ikaruga said as Seilah finally put down her lacrima.

"I suppose...since the destruction of Tartaros it is odd no other dark guild has came up since then. Now would be the best time to do so."

Hud frowned as everyone was talking about pointless details on who and why. "Bah, who cares about any of that! All we have to do is go find them and beat them up right?"

"I suppose talking about it now would be pointless. Just be aware that they have more influence than you think." Ikaruga ended the conversation with that statement.

Hud noticed that she didn't bring up the girl he told her about. Perhaps that really was a bit too personal, and it wasn't like it really mattered in the end.

"Well, I'm going to train, come on Frlea." Hud said, but before they could leave Ikaruga stated something.

"Actually, Hud I need Frlea to do something for me."

"Aw, what? I barely got to hang out with Hud during our entire trip." The plant creature pouted as Hud laughed.

"Don't worry, we can hang out another time. I am sure whatever Ikaruga wants you to do is more important." Hud pointed out as he left the room, no doubt going to a random spot in the forest to punch something.

Frlea grumbled as he rolled off of the bed his head was on. Ikaruga walked up to him gazing down before asking a simple question.

"How good are you at gardening?"

* * *

"Lamy this is boring..." Hud let out a whine as he stared at the clear empty glass case in the center of the guild house.

Lamy sighed as she continued to type on the newly created panel. She had been working on ways to actually reconstruct the cube in some way, but was having difficulty doing so.

"Sorry Hud, but this is going to take awhile. Besides, weren't you supposed to go out and train?" Lamy pointed out as she got up from the wooden chair checking the side of the tube.

"Eh, due to my body I don't really get a much from training by myself. Plus it's pretty boring." Hud pointed out as he jumped on Lamy's bed not even bothering to take off his shoes.

"Huh? Your body?" Lamy thought about it for a moment before remembering what Hud told her way back when they escaped from the Salad Squad. "You get stronger when you fight right?"

"Yeah! If I get hurt or if I break a bone or whatever my entire body just gets better. The worse I get hurt the stronger my body gets. I think my mom called it the Comeback Omen or something." Hud shrugged as Lamy slumped her shoulders.

"It's your body Hud, shouldn't you know a bit more about it?" Lamy wasn't really one to get on Hud's case about being stupid. However he should have some basic knowledge about that sort of thing.

"Knowing more about it would be useless right? If I stronger by getting hurt or fighting then it's only natural that I do those things." Hud response was what Lamy expected.

"You...truly love fighting don't you?"

"Duh, it's the best thing in the entire world! Every time I'm fighting I just get a feeling that I can't even describe." Hud grinned as Lamy eyes widened for a moment.

The way Hud talked about his love for battle was somewhat...infectious. Not the actual love for fighting, but rather the love for something.

"You're...lucky that you have something like that." Lamy sighed as she stopped typing sitting in front of the large glass tube.

"..." Hud didn't say anything right away. Perhaps even an idiot like him could read the mood of the situation. "Oh come on Lamy, I'm sure you have a dream or something right?"

"Nope, not a single one. Seliah and the other Nine-Demon Gates wanted to help Lord Zeref. But, I never had that feeling to do so, I guess it's because I wasn't created by Zeref technically."

While she was an artificial demon like the others. She wasn't personally created by Lord Zeref, rather she was created by the Demon Gates to run and manage the hell core.

As a result she didn't have as much passion in finding Zeref and speaking to them as the others.

"Well, what do you want to do?" Hud said it so simple as Lamy crossed her arms as if she was thinking.

"I...really don't know. Even now I'm just doing what I've, or what all Lamys have always done. Manage the hell core." There was a certain sadness in that comment, but there was a certain calmness of knowing your place in the world.

"Talk about boring, why would someone who is so amazing at making stuff waste time doing one thing?" Hud replied.

"Amazing, d-do you really mean that?"

"Sure, both you and Frlea are terrible at fighting, but you guys can create and make stuff. When I think of it, that is probably the most kindest and coolest ability in the world."

"...Geez Hud, saying stuff like that is making me blush, huhuhuhuh!" Lamy laughed.

"By the way, where is everyone else?" Hud asked.

"Well..."

* * *

"Ah, so bird lady...what do you need me for?" Frlea asked as he looked into what appeared to be a dead and sandy soil. Ikaruga glanced down at him, her eyes shifting at the name.

"Could you quickly plant and grow these seed?" She lifted up a bag as Frlea grumbled.

She tossed the small bag to the plant who was still just a head due to the previous battle. A thin vine slowly exited his head as he opened the bag examining it. "I guess this is fine, but growing something here is going to be a pain."

After all, Hud and Frlea had been living in that area for awhile. He already knew about the dead wasteland near the guildhouse. Frlea thought about growing something there before but decided against it due tot he trouble.

"So, you can do it?" The pink-haired swordsmen asked as Frlea nodded.

"Sure, but what is this for anyway?" Frlea opened the bag further, taking note of apple seeds, lettuce seeds and quite a few others.

"This is for the guild. I decided the best choice is to create an income source, if we can start planting and growing our own vegetables and fruits then we could sell them to nearby towns."

Ikaruga recalled a lot of legal guilds selling merchandise. While she wasn't really fond of doing so mundane it was for the best.

"I see, do you want them to be hybrids or just regular fruit?"

"Huh?" Ikaruga had heard of the process before, but it seemed rather troublesome and she didn't know if they had the tools to do so.

"I can combine certain fruit and vegetables making them hybrids. I could make apples with the insides of oranges or something." Frlea said, but before Ikaruga could reply he quickly ate all the seeds in the bag chewing them.

"I'll let you decide that..." Ikaruga didn't know what to say. While gardening was her hobby the ability to combine fruits could be useful. It would allow them to put something on the market that wasn't available from anyone else.

After Frlea stopped chewing his head split open. At that moment multiple vines and roots sprouted from his head. The length of each of them was rather amazing as they quickly entered the ground.

Frlea puffed his cheeks as dozen upon dozen of seeds were poured across the field. The vines then broke themselves off of Frlea his as he spoke. "Well, they should be fully grown in about a week."

"That quickly?" Ikaruga asked as Frlea scoffed.

"I'm a plant monster, growing things quickly is what I do. In fact, if I managed it myself it would go even faster, but I'm not going to do something like that."

"Do not worry, you have done enough." Honestly Ikaruga thought it was going to take much longer. "If you do not mind could you also remove the plants hiding the guildhouse."

"Those are my babies you know. Plus they also keep things like bugs and rats away." Frlea pointed out.

Ikaruga held back a chuckle, the idea of the plant monster referring anything as his babies was amusing to say the least.

"Would it be possible for you to simply move them somewhere else. Perhaps moving them to the field to guard the garden?" Ikaruga realized she was making a rather silly request.

Uprooting plants and moving them wasn't an easy task. Even a small plant could be damage, contrast to the thick vines that covered the guildhouse it would truly take days.

"Bah, fine, but only because you seem to understand how amazing plants really are. Plus I need to grow my body back right quick."

Frlea jumped on the pink-haired woman shoulders as the two of them made their way back to the guildhouse.

* * *

Seilah took a deep breath, her legs were crossed eyes closed. The leaves in the trees completely blocked all the light from the area.

She then lifted two fingers pressing them against her forehead. At that moment, a small slit appeared on her head an eye slowly opening...but.

"How irritating." Seilah sighed as the eye quickly closed. "It seems even someone like me needs more practice."

A demon training...the idea was disgusting. However Seilah had noticed an alteration in her body. Something didn't feel right, as if there was a disconnect between her and her past self.

Which was worrying to say the least. It wasn't just the emotional side, but the physical side as well. Like when she was thinking back to her memories it was like someone looking or reading a book.

"Am I...the real Seilah." Seilah looked at both of her hands. It was the question she wanted to avoid asking. However her soul seemed to have been different.

What did she want to do, meet Lord Zeref and destroy Fairy Tail. Yet, she was lacking motivation to do the former.

There was no true love or hate for her creator...just nothing, and she hated it. It felt like a piece of her soul was missing.

A creation of Zeref not caring about Zeref is wrong.

She quickly pushed those thoughts away, now she needed to focus on perfecting her current state.

So without thinking about anything else Seilah closed her eyes pressing one hand to her forehead and another to her stomach. To be able to access the strength of her etherious form without the strain of transforming.

Even if that wasn't possible, maybe the combination of both of her forms would be allow her to increase her overall curse strength.

After all, regardless of her feelings towards Zeref there was still one thing she had. Her hatred for Fairy Tail.

* * *

"Ah, I wonder where owl-head went?" Briar pressed her finger against her scar as she sat on a nearby tree-stump.

"He said he was going to do something for Ikaruga." Jerome stated before continuing. "Do you honestly think it would be best for you to move around in your condition?"

"Please Scruffy. I'm not a child, and besides as some of the strongest members of Avatar being bedridden by a single cut would be shameful."

"Speaking of Avatar, do you think we should contact Mary? She escaped with us and now that we have a new grou-"

"No." Briar quickly cut him off. "Poison Tongue left us for a reason. Let her enjoy her youth and time with her parents."

Mary was one of the youngest members of Avatar, but once they were defeated by Avatar she spend two years in prison with the rest of them. If it wasn't for the stroke of luck they would probably have still been rotting away.

"...You're rather kind you know that?" Jerome said something so embarrassing as Briar face quickly turned red.

"I-it's just that she probably wouldn't focus if we tried to bring her with us. Even ignoring that, we've been doing some shady stuff lately. I don't want to drag her back to this sort of thing."

"Speaking of that, are you finally going to tell me what we needed the lacrima for?" Jerome asked as Briar remained silent.

She knew it wasn't fair to keep that sort of information from him. Considering he had been risking his life for her since they broke out without asking for anything in return.

"Scruffy...do you know why I even joined Avatar so long ago?"

Jerome didn't reply as Briar continued.

"The power of a god...that was what was advertised to me. The power of a god and Zeref would be enough to free a town. In fact that would be a simple matter."

Jerome still didn't say anything. He never really asked for details for where Briar was from and why she was there. Rather, none of that sort of thing mattered once they joined Avatar.

Despite it being a cruel cult it was still a place where certain types of people could belong. So there was no meaning in asking why or where, as long as they were with Avatar none of the details mattered.

"Bosco is the country where I am from. It's a mostly lawless hellhole that is better off being wiped off the map. Yet, I still want to go there and save my town, that is why I wanted..."

"So, if you weren't able to save the town through force...then, through money was the next option." Jerome finally spoke as Briar chuckled.

"Of course, but even if we did manage to sell that lacrima it wouldn't have mattered. Perhaps it is just a childish dream, but now...I have nothing better to do so."

He looked at Briar for a moment before smiling. "I do believe it is important to have dreams even if they are impossible. Then again, maybe the former members of a cult shouldn't be talking about such things."

"Ha, you always know what to say huh Scruffy!" Briar smiled before her expression turned serious. "Do you think..."

"What?" Jerome asked.

The white haired mage started a thought before stopping. "No, that is far too much for a guild that we have just met. Right now I'll focus on recovery and leave the rest up in the air."

Before the conversation could continue the sound of leaves and branches breaking as Juliet came walking in on the two.

"There you two are. I was wondering if you guys ran away or something." Juliet shrugged as Briar's eyes narrowed.

"We are not so cheap to abandoned those who save our lives."

Juliet nodded, "fair enough. The rest of us is going back to the guildhouse. Apparently we're finally going to get our guildmarks."

"Oh...it has been awhile since we've had one of those." Jerome stated as he looked over at Briar who smiled.

"Well, I suppose we shouldn't keep the guild waiting."

* * *

Hud and Lamy continued to sit in the main room as Lamy worked on the hell core. After a few minutes Ikaruga came walking into the building her gaze meeting with Hud's.

"Did you finish what you were doing?" Hud asked as Ikaruga nodded.

"Yes, have you picked a guildmark?" Ikaruga asked as Hud crossed his arms thinking about it.

"I think so..." Hud reached under one of the beds pulling out one of the designs that Ikaruga had created, with a few modifications. "I changed a bit of it, do you mind?" Hud smiled as Ikaruga eyes twitched.

It was about the same as the one she designed. It appeared like the jaws of a beast closing in on the sides. A single eye appearing in the mouth, however there were some flames that were added.

Considering she was once apart of Death Head Caucus, she had no right to complain about pointless flames. Still, she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that the simple design was being changed.

"Alright, give me the sheet." Ikaruga sighed as Hud handed her the paper. She then took out what appeared to be a simple stamp. "Now where do you wish to have your mark?"

Hud thought about it for a moment before grinning. "Right on my back!"

"Why on your back?" Lamy asked as Hud laughed.

"Because when I'm walking away I want people to know what guild I'm apart of." Hud smiled. It was such a simple statement, only he would be able to com up with it.

"Alright, lift your shirt." Ikaruga asked, Hud did just that as he felt something press against his back. "There it's done."

"Huh? I thought it would be more burning." Hud made a joke as Lamy sighed.

"I-I'm pretty sure humans wouldn't do that sort of thing if it was like a brand." Lamy pointed out as Ikaruga turned to the demon.

"Now you, where do you wish to have your mark?"

Lamy's eyes widened as all her options raced through her head. "W-well some place sexy, you know a place where men's eyes will be drawn to."

Lamy grinned, perhaps her but, or maybe right above her breasts. Or maybe even directly on it. Her thigh or her stomach would also be good spots. All the cute guys would have eyes on her.

"Right on my boob~" Lamy said that in such a smug way, it almost caused Ikaruga to groan

"Alright, then remove your jacket and shirt." Ikaruga said that so bluntly as Lamy body stiffened.

"R-right here?" Lamy stammered as Hud smiled.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing Lamy's chest with her guildmark on it." Hud probably didn't realize what he was saying as Lamy's face turned red.

"C-can't we do that somewhere else. L-Like maybe on the second floor." Lamy stated as Ikaruga gave her what was almost a disgusted look.

"You will have to show this off sooner or later right? If you can not do this now then doing it later would be impossible no?"

Ikaruga had a point, so there was really only one thing to do...

"...Just give it to me on the palm of my hand!" In a flash Lamy instantly abandoned her dream as Ikaruga complied.

She took Lamy's hand pressing the mark against her palm. In an instant she had her new guildmark.

"What about you Ikaruga?" Hud asked as she shook her head.

"I'll do mine later, if Juliet followed the instructions I had given her then she and the rest of the guild should be back soon."

"Great! That means we official have a mark now!" Hud smiled.

Despite how small it was, it was one of the first steps in becoming a proper dark guild.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author note.**

 **Sorry if this chapter showed up in your feed suddenly. I decided to start combining and editing chapters to make the story flow a bit better. I will hopefully have a new chapter up later on this week.**

* * *

 **Chapter 17  
**

 **The Forever Tree**

"What an...unsettling place." Ikaruga looked up at the towering figure, figure was really the only thing that could describe what they were looking at.

Before them was a large mountain, a mountain that looked hollowed out with a tree growing from the inside out. A thick pink mist covered the area as the seven of them stared up at the twisted structure.

This time, the group was Hud, Seilah, Juliet, Frlea, Ikaruga and Jerome. After all the group should had been enough to deal with anyone or anything that came there way...but still.

"Are you sure this is the right spot?" Juliet frowned as she glanced over to Seilah who took out the Lamy's stupidly named device.

"Lamy's device is reacting so we must be on the right track. Even if she is worthless in combat, most of her inventions rarely fail." If Seilah could give Lamy one compliment it would be that.

"So, why couldn't that gross demon be here anyway?" Juliet asked as Seilah sighed.

"She said something about wanting to actually get the cubes pieces ready for unification. Though I partly think it is due to her almost being killed during our last trip."

"That is fine, it at least gives Briar some company while she recovers." Jerome stated before looking over towards Hud and Frlea.

The two monsters were mostly silent looking up towards the large twisted tower. They hadn't said a word since their eyes met, which was odd. Hud was normally talkative so his silence was unnerving.

"Monster, is there something wrong?" Ikaruga was the first one to ask as Hud and Frlea glanced at one another before Hud just gave a goofy laugh.

"Ah, if you guys don't notice it, then don't worry about it!" He grinned as Juliet eyes narrowed. She recalled hearing something similar before back during their last trip.

"Hud, isn't that bad. Keeping something like that from us? Even if you are the guildmaster don't you think we deserve to know a bit more?" Juliet pointed out as Hud crossed his arms.

"Well...if I actually told you, then you might be too scared to go inside."

"Honestly Monster, that's even more of a reason for you to tell us." Seilah pointed out as Hud grumbled.

"Alright, this place...is the lair of the Country Destroying Monster Azalea." Hud lifted his finger as Seilah paused for a moment, recalling that she had heard that term before.

"That is a monster of a rather high rank. Even higher than you as I recall." Seilah stated as Hud laughed.

"Yep, they are on a whole other level than me. Like their rank says, they can destroy an entire country without much issue. Though most of them don't do much..."

"W-wait, you're saying we are entering a lair belonging to a monster that could wipe us out without any issue?" Jerome asked as Hud nodded.

"Sure, that's why I didn't want to tell you guys. Honestly, even if all of us attacked her we'd probably be killed without too much issue." Hud's tone was casual despite the clear threat of death.

"Perhaps rethinking our plan would be better." Seilah pointed out. "If there is an animal nearby I could control it with Macro, from there we could attach Lamy's device to it and it could track down the piece. From there depending on its size we could have the creature retrieve it for us, or if it is too large we could go in and take it out without risking wandering around."

It was a good plan, actually a fantastic one...however.

"Boooring~ going on an adventure is really only worth something if you can die. Doing something safe like that will just make us weaker in the long run..." Hud pointed out as Juliet pouted.

"Courage is one thing, but stupidity is another. Risking our lives for something like this when there is another solution is crazy."

"Not really, considering that we don't have to worry about the monster at all." This time it was Frlea was the one that spoke up.

"What do you mean by that?" Ikaruga asked as Frlea cleared his throat.

"Well, the fact that this isn't really Azalea's lair."

"Huh, do you mean Hud got it wrong?" Juliet asked as Frlea shook his small head.

"No, rather...this mountain and the tree that is growing in it IS Azalea. This entire area is her body." Frlea stated as Jerome gave an almost irritated glance.

"Was that really supposed to calm us down?" The blond knight responded as Frlea grumbled.

"Let me finish...right now she is in a deep sleep. Not only that, but if everything I heard about her is true then she likes to horde objects that she has found on her body. Wherever the cube piece is, it's probably somewhere around there." Frlea pointed out.

"See? There is nothing to worry about as long as she is asleep!" Hud pointed out as Seilah sighed.

It was not something she wanted to agree to. Even if the threat had been lowered there was still a chance things could go poorly for them. The whole thing just felt like a bad idea.

At the same time, even if Seilah went through with her plan, there was a probability that Hud would just ignore everything and enter on his own.

"Very well, but if this creature so much as moves an inch then we are leaving." Seilah stated as Hud smiled.

"Great, now let's go!"

The six traveled to the base of the mountain. Seilah's eyes kept glancing over to the tracker. It was emitting a low humming noise. As the slowly made their way around the body of the demon they finally found a opening they could enter.

The air was oddly dry, and the smell was almost like iron. The six of them entered the cave like entrance, but for some reason darkness did not consume them. In fact, despite there being no visible light source they could see perfectly fine.

"By the way Monster, may I ask why you so insistent on doing things the hard way?" Jerome asked, perhaps it was just because he joined recently, but he wanted to understand his guildmaster's mindset a little more.

Plus it wasn't like they were doing anything besides walking through tunnels. Now would be the perfect time to strike up a conversation.

"Ah, that...well I love fighting, but more importantly if you take the easy way out then you really just hurting yourself. It doesn't matter if it's humans, demons or monsters. We can only grow when we are put under a ton of pressure right? Even a weakling like you could grow stronger if they were put in a do or die situation."

Hud laughed tossing out another casual insult towards his guildmate. Though it did give Jerome some insight on how Hud thought and why he did the things that he did.

"Well, I guess I can't disagree with that. Conflict does usually bring out the best in living creatures."

As they continued through the caves Seilah stopped, her eyes narrowed. It wasn't just her, but Hud as well. For some reason the air had shifted, but it wasn't due to the monster they were inside of rather...

"Someone else is here." Seilah stated bluntly as Ikaruga nodded.

"Yeah, I felt it too. Some decent size magic is around here. I want to say around...six or seven?"

"Huh? But why would humans come to this forsaken place?" Jerome asked as Frlea grumbled.

"You humans have a habit of sticking your nose where it doesn't belong. Chances are they are here to find some sort of treasure."

Juliet shrugged, "you say that, but aren't we're here for the same thing? Plus I don't think someone would come to a place like this without a really good reason considering how out of the way it is."

She had a point, it was almost as if they were at the edge of the world. Not only that but there weren't any humans or towns around for hundreds of miles. Just a horrible mountain and a terrible tree.

"Well, it doesn't matter right now. If they are here then they must have some strength right?" Hud smiled.

"Let's continue to move in a group. I would like no interruptions during this trip." Seilah honestly had enough surprises. Just once she would like to go somewhere without worrying about if someone was after the cube pieces.

So they did just that, going through the tunnels Seilah checking the device every turn. There was no visible changes to it, which meant at they very least they weren't getting further from their target, however on the other hand it meant they weren't making any progress either.

From the corner of her eye Seilah noticed Frlea planting what seemed to be small flowers around the area. It was apparent he was marking the locations they had been.

It made sense, after all most of the tunnels looked the same, and it wasn't like they could just burst down the walls of the mountain either. It was far too risky and could wake the sleeping monster up.

After a few more turns they came to a split in the tunnels. Hud crossed his arms. "Hmm, should we split up?"

"Of course not, we just sensed half a dozen of different magic and you want to split up?" Jerome quickly shot down the idea as Juliet nodded.

"Yeah, it might take longer, but us staying in a large group might help. Besides, we only bought one tracker with us so splitting up would be pointless."

Even though Lamy had created two trackers they decided to only take one due to there being a chance that the three left at the guildhouse would be able to find something.

"Well, I'm going to plant something here so if we do get lost we will know where the split is." Frlea casually peeled off a piece of his arm before burying it into the ground. Within seconds it suddenly sprouted into a small tree.

Once he was finished the six of them continued to travel down one of the corridors.

"Man, this is kind of bo-" Hud cut himself off as his nostrils flared. "That smell, we are close to someone..."

"So much for getting out of here without a fight..." Juliet closed her eyes as Ikaruga and Jerome did the same.

"Only three, if that's the case then this shouldn't be much of a problem." Jerome stated.

"I agree, but I would still like to be on the careful side." Seilah smiled as she took a step forward. "I shall take the lead from here, after all this is where my ability shines the brightest..."

* * *

"Something about this...makes me feel uneasy." The pink haired woman frowned as she checked each wall of the cavern. Her pink-eyes darting towards the silver-haired woman next to her.

"Oh? Shouldn't you have a bit more confidence in yourself Meredy. Besides, Jellal and the others should be close by." The white-haired woman replied as the man standing next to them sighed.

"Yeah, but I kind of agree with her. Ever since we entered this place my senses have been all over the place...like this place is hell or something." The one eyed man groaned.

"Oh, even you Erik?"

"Let's just hurry up and finish this so we can meet up wi-" Meredy couldn't finish her statement as her body froze. It was as if someone and snatched away control from her limbs and mouth.

"Meredy what's wro-" This time it was Sorano who stopped, her hands slowly making their way towards her throat forcing her to choke herself.

Without any warning Erik winced his arm making its way towards his shoulder, he could feel a tight grip of his hand crushing his own shoulder. "D-damn it, these feeling..."

"Oh my, I see familiar faces...I'll make you surfer before you die." A small chuckle was heard from the darkness as footsteps echoed through the room.

"W-wait that can't be right...isn't she supposed to be..." Meredy winced as she looked towards the figure. Who was standing before them was none other than Seilah of the Chilled Moon.

Not only was one of the Demon Gates standing before the there of them, but she wasn't alone.

"Huh, who are these guys?" Hud asked looking upon the three humans as Jerome eyes quickly glared at Erik who returned the look.

"These people belong to Crime Sorcière. I recognize two of them." Jerome pointed out.

"Bastards, what are you doing here...?" Erik growled before he felt more pressure on his shoulder.

"Now now, is it not rude to greet someone in such a way? Why not take note of the two women in your group?" Seilah smiled as she pointed to Sorano who was desperately grasping for air.

"Oh my, at this rate she is going to suffocate herself...wouldn't that be a problem?"

"I-I don't get it...how are you here?" Meredy asked, the phrasing was odd to say the least. It wasn't why, but rather how.

"Funny I was about to ask a similar question. Though I know the answer, you are here for the piece of the cube are you not?" Meredy winced, she knew it was obvious but she was hoping for a chance talk themselves out of the situation.

"B-but Zeref is dead, that means all of hi-" Meredy wasn't able to finish her statement as she felt her thumb jam itself into her body.

"Do not say such worthless things. Isn't the fact that I'm standing here before you enough to show yo-"

"Gosh Seilah, are you done this is boring..." Hud whined as the demon's eye twitched.

"Monster, perhaps we should simply let Seilah finish..." Ikaruga stated as Hud pouted.

"Yeah, but I didn't get to fight anyo-" Hud stopped himself as he slowly turned around his eyes widening.

"Hud, what is it?" Juliet asked as Hud remained silent. He simply continued to stare down the tunnel.

"There..." That was the only thing he said as he vanished from the rest of their sight. What followed was a loud crashing noise causing the entire area to shake ever so slightly.

Dust was kicked up, but once it had cleared it was apparent what happened.

"Wow, that was close huh?" Hud smiled as he had a man pinned to the carven floor.

"D-damn it..." The man groaned.

"Sawyer!" Meredy cried out as Erik expression turned to horror.

Less because of his pinned teammate and more because of how he was pinned. He couldn't sense any magic coming from Hud, even ignoring that despite being a dragon slayer he wasn't able to track the monster's movements at all.

As far as he could see, Hud was standing there one second and the next he had Sawyer pinned.

"Oh, I didn't even notice that guy..." Juliet words were rather casual as Ikaruga closed one of her eyes.

"Well, he is our guildmaster. I'd expect at least this much from him..."

Seilah laughed from the bottom of her heard as she turned back to Erik and Meredy. I sure do hope you lot have a better back-up plan, if not then I start taking you apart..."

Seilah lifted her hands as if she was prepared to give another command. However the words never left her lips, she felt something rip through her body as she held her chest.

A sharp beam of light pierced her as she fell to the floor on her knees.

"Yikes, Seilah are you okay!" Hud eyes widened before he quickly turned his head with the rest of the guild. At the end of the tunnel was small dots of lights that looked like stars.

Hud quickly jumped off of Sawyer before grabbing Seilah. He and the rest of Demon Fang then dodged the streaking lights as they turned their attention to the new enemy.

"It seems that we made it back just in time..." To figures walked out of the darkness, the moment they did Meredy eyes widened.

"Jellal!" Meredy smiled as she sat up, whatever curse Seilah had put under her had been lifted for the time being.

"I'm here too you know..." The black-haired man chimed in, at least they assumed it was a man. His features were rather feminine after all, and Juliet was positive that he was wearing make-up.

Erik quickly got to his feet as Sorano let out a gasp of air as she too got to her feet.

"Are you alright Sawyer?" The blue-haired mage looked down.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine...but I didn't expect him to be that fast, even when I was using my magic on him he completely overwhelmed me." Sawyer pointed out as Jellal gaze shifted towards Hud.

Hud eyes widened for a moment as he set Seilah down. Without even exchanging words with the young mage Hud could tell he was strong.

"Jellal..." Ikaruga words had a certain venom to them as Jellal turned his attention to the former Death Head Caucus member.

"You're still alive?" There was more shock in his tone than expected as Ikaruga scoffed.

"No helps to the likes of you, but I suppose that is to be expected to a pawn correct?" Ikaruga replied as Jellal remained silent.

Hud didn't really know what was going on, but..." Hey Frlea, could you take Seilah somewhere safe and heal her. Once you're done you can meet back up with us." Hud smiled at he friend as Frlea sighed.

"Fine, but only because you asked Hud." Frlea frowned as small roots appeared around Seilah as they started to drag the demon away. The plant monster then jumped on her shoulders casually being carried away.

"Like hell I'm letting you go!" Erik motioned to stop the two, however he felt something gripping his ankles. Looking down he noticed what seemed like a clear liquid snake stopping him.

"Oh, sorry, but did you honestly think I was just going to let you do that?" Juliet smiled as Erik glared at her.

"Erik, duck!" Meredy called out as teal swords appeared around her shinning ever so brightly. With a simple wave of her hand they were fired directly towards Juliet...however they never reached her.

Because in a single motion they were cut to pieces. Meredy's eyes widened as she noticed Ikaruga sheathing her blade.

"It seems that I made the correct decision picking this sword."

Hud looked over towards the tunnel that Seilah and Frlea escaped through before smiling. "Shshshs, this is great! I was worried this was just going to be a boring trip, but we ended up meeting some pretty strong guys!"

"How can you say something like that? Without Frlea and Seilah we're outnumbered 4 to 6." Jerome pointed out, he was trying to remain calm, but he didn't like those odds.

"Isn't that what makes this exciting?!" Hud cheered as Sorano sighed.

"I do believe we are being underestimated." The white-haired woman stated as Juliet tilted her head.

"Strange coming from someone who was chocking herself less than five minutes ago."

"What was that...?"

"That's enough talking!" Hud stated as Jellal looked towards the monster before closing his eyes.

"I will agree with you, I'll get answers later...right now all that's left is the battle."

 **Author note**

 **A lot of this chapter was me bouncing around ideas.**

 **Originally Crime Sorciere wasn't the guild they were going to encounter. Originally they were supposed to fight the Salad Squad again, the I thought about Team Natsu, and THEN I thought both the Salad Squad and Team Natsu in a three way fight between all three of them.**

 **I changed it from the Salad Squad since I wanted to do something with them later. And I felt like them encountering Team Natsu or anyone from Fairy Tail would lessen the impact of the next arc.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

 **VS Crime Sorciere**

Hud frowned as he lifted his arms blocking another attack from Sawyer as he felt a subtle change in the air. Almost instinctively Hud slid back as the area he was standing in was cut to shreds, his eyes narrowed as he turned to Macbeth who was smiling.

Everyone else in Demon Fang was preoccupied with their own battles, however Hud took note of Jellal, who seemed satisfied with watching and waiting before getting involved.

The guildmaster's eyes slowly turned to the tunnel where Seilah and Flrea escaped through. "I'll leave the rest to you, I don't like the idea of leaving that demon alone for long..."

Jellal words caused Hud's eyes to twitch. Before the monster could react Jellal entire body started to glow in a golden light. As if he was a meteor he flew above the rest of the battles quickly making his way towards the tunnel.

"Oy, stop!" Hud called out as he made his way towards Jellal, however the monster noticed Sawyer moving in.

"Weren't you the one that said you're fighting us!" Sawyer called out as he reeled his leg back preparing to kick Hud.

Hud eyes narrowed as he leaned his entire body back avoiding the attack. In the same motion he lifted his foot, hooking Sawyer with the tip of he toes, before tossing him into the ceiling of the cave with a crash.

At that moment Hud felt the air shift again as he jumped up in the air, once again the area he was standing in looked like it was cut by invisible swords as he landed. Hud frowned, Jellal had escaped, most likely preparing to track down Seilah and Flrea.

"Man, that jerk...it's like I'm not even on his radar." Hud smiled before turning his attention back to Macbeth and Sawyer, the latter of which jumped back down from the ceiling clenching his stomach.

"Damn it, every time this guy touches me it feels like I'm going to be torn in two!" Sawyer complained as Macbeth scoffed.

"Maybe you should just keep rushing towards him using your magic...it's clearly not working."

Sawyer wanted to counter the point, but he couldn't. "Well, this place is too cramp to use Dead Grand Prix!"

"Ah...sure." Macbeth decided to keep the fact that, that sort of magic probably would have been useless in that type of situation regardless of the area they were fighting in.

"Are you two done talking? Listen I don't have a lot of time, so if you guys can stop with the weak stuff and go all out. I'm kind of in a rush here." Hud blurted out as both Macbeth and Sawyer's eyes twitched.

It was increasingly apparent that they were being underestimated.

"People like you should really keep their mouth's shut..." Macbeth stated as both he and Sawyer turned their bodies preparing to go another round with the guildmaster of Demon Fang.

* * *

Juliet eyes narrowed as she noticed Jellal leaving the area. "I guess that guy is going after Seilah and Flrea..."

"Damn it, don't you dare take your eyes off of me!" Erik snapped as he reeled back his fist his knuckles covered in poison.

Juliet raised both of her hands blocking the attack causing the dragon slayer to smile.

"Are you sure you want touch that?" Erik's finger twitched as more poison started to exude from his hands. Surely the girl's hands would start to grow numb and limb...at least that is what he assumed.

"I don't know...do you?" Juliet tilted her head as Erik's eyes widened. He looked towards his fist, noticing not a single drop of poison had touched her. Even more than that, his hand was covered it what seemed to be a thick bubble.

"What the hell?" Erik's growled as Juliet quickly kicked him away, her body swaying ever slightly as she opened her palm, mucus dripping from her fingers.

"Just because I'm cute doesn't mean I'm stupid. Do you honestly think I would let you touch me with that hand of yours?" The demon asked as Erik quickly scratched off the mucus as if it was nothing.

Juliet frowned, usually it would leave a burning sensation, yet the dragon slayer removed it as if he was peeling off a layer of dead skin. Honestly, she had a feeling that capturing him with her mucus was out of the question.

Before she could think of anything else Erik smiled crossing his arms, as a large wave of poison flung itself towards Juliet.

The brown-haired girl eyes widened as she kicked off the ground into the air as Erik smile turned into a grin.

"Idiot, don't think you can do something so simple to avoid it will work!" Erik curved his fingers, the two waves of poison slowly turned into snakes following Juliet into the air.

Juliet eyes narrowed, the snakes closing in on her. However, before even one could reach her she was instantly sent to the ground, as if her an elastic band was around her waist.

"H-how!" Erik twitched as Juliet wasted no time kicking Erik in the stomach sending him back a few feet.

The dragon slayer grumbled. "Don't think I'm stupid either." Erik grabbed his chest yanking off the invisible mucus that Juliet had placed on him, causing the girl to laugh nervously.

"Oh, so you noticed that..."

Erik cracked his knuckles before speaking. "Who the hell are you? You don't seem to be an ordinary mage...no it's more, that you are way to strong to be one."

Juliet simply clasped her hands together before smiling. "Well, currently I'm a demon a part of Demon Fang, but...I can't lie and say I don't take pride in my position before I joined that guild."

Juliet saluted before smiling. "Third in command of the Irene Squad of the Alvarez Empire."

Erik let out an audible groan when he heard the name. Considering the hell that Fiore was put through by that army it was only naturally that one of the generals would be dangerous.

Though as far as he knew the war was over and the Alvarez Empire had no interest in that sort of thing...then again they weren't in Fiore and whatever Juliet was planning probably didn't have anything to do with his country.

"Whatever, it seems like you are at least a little bit stronger than that plant and the loser swordsmen that's with you." Erik smiled as Juliet pouted slightly holding her hips.

"Well, that's a rather rude thing to say, they may not be much, but they are still by guildmates after...so, I should probably punish you for saying something like that."

* * *

Ikaruga cut through more of Meredy's blades as the pink haired woman noted Jellal's escape.

"It seems that Monster was incapable of stopping him for the time being." Ikaruga noted as she looked over to the pink-haired girl standing in front of her. "Tell me, what is Jellal up to now?"

"If you think Jellal is the same person as he was before then I don't know what to tell." Meredy snapped as she lifted her hands as yellow blades of light formed around her.

In an instant they curved making their way towards Ikaruga. The swordswoman simply twisted her body, cutting the magic right out of the air causing Meredy to flinch slightly.

"I assure, if that is the best you can do this battle will not take long." Ikaruga took a step forward dashing towards Meredy who froze, she had a feeling that cut by Ikaruga's blade probably wasn't the best thing for her health.

Meredy lifted her hands again, as more swords were summoned around her.

"This again? Do you not have anything else to show?" Ikaruga asked as Meredy eyes narrowed. With a flick of the wrist the blades vanished as Ikaruga held her breath.

She quickly scanned her surroundings as she noticed the blades circling her. Not only that, but it seemed they had been locked to her position, no matter where she moved the blades continued to swarm her.

"No matter, I'll ju-" Ikaruga stopped as she noticed a shadow below her. She swung her blade stopping a large golden hammer from above. The weapon was wielded by a large winged creature that could barely be described.

Ikaruga was momentarly locked in blades, Meredy's blades still closing in on her. The swordswoman shifted her weight slide from underneath of the weapon before lifting her blade. Cutting the arms of the monster as the creature slowly started to fade.

Ikaruga quickly turned her head to see Sorano standing before her.

"You, but Jerome should be dealing with you..." Ikaruga frowned as the white haired woman let out an almost dismissive sigh.

"You mean that swordsmen from earlier? Well, right now he has his hands full, with something else..." Sorano chuckled as Meredy smiled.

"Thanks Sorano..."

"Perhaps you should thank me after we defeat her." Sorano pointed out as Ikaruga lifted her blade once again.

In a single motion she cut the swords that were circling her, though she had no doubt that Meredy would try the attack again at a later point of time.

"Well, I suppose it is situations like this that test us the most." Ikaruga eyes narrowed preparing for the upcoming onslaught.

* * *

"Alright, this should be far enough." Flrea sighed as he placed his vine over Seilah's wound, it wouldn't take long for it to completely heal as the horned demon looked down at the plant creature.

"I assume you are going back to help Monster and the others?" Seilah words were blunt. While it was the most logical thing to do, she couldn't help but feel a bit insulted on how things turned out.

"Actually, I think now would be the perfect time to search for the cube thingy." Flrea stated as Seilah sat up.

The hole in her body was already being stitched up, a part of her was honestly impressed. Though that really wasn't important at the moment.

"I suppose you are right, if Monster and the others are taking care of them then it would be in our best interest to simply get what we need and rendezvous in a different location. However, I am quite shocked that you would make the decision."

"What do you mean?" Flrea placed his hands on his hips as Seilah wondered what the most tactful way to explain her point would be.

"It is simply...that you are very much joined to Monster by the hip."

"Eh?! No I'm not, I can do things on my own regardless. Besides, the reason why I want to do this is because this place...isn't right." Flrea shivered slightly as Seilah pressed her finger to her lip.

They were inside of a horribly powerful monster, or at least that is what Flrea himself said. Though Seilah personally hadn't noticed anything strange about it, it seemed that it was actually doing something to Flrea.

Perhaps it was because he was the same specious as the so called country destroying monster. Maybe he was capable of sensing something everyone else couldn't.

"If what you are saying is true th-" Seilah stopped herself, her eyes quickly glancing back to the tunnel.

Flrea did the same, if he had lungs he would be holding his breath. The figure slowly appeared from the dark halls, it was a familiar blue haired mage as both Seilah's and glared at me.

"Oh, no sneak attacks this time? That sort of thing is what your humans are best at after all." Seilah glared at Jellal as he responded.

"The only reason I did that in the first place was because you did that to my comrades, besides. I need you awake for you to tell me what exactly your plan is."

Flrea frowned glaring at the guildmaster of Crime Sorciere before looking to Seilah.

"H-hey, hurry up and take control of him, he is a human right? So you should be able to do so easily." Flrea pointed out as Seilah glared at Jellal, while it was true that she should have been able to take control of him...however.

"Something is wrong, I can't command him...or rather it's like someone else is already controlling him." Seilah frowned as Flrea eyes widened.

"W-what? Do you think someone else is using him as a puppet or something?"

Seilah thought about that possibility, but quickly dismissed it. It was less that he was being controlled and he was using an alternate method of controlling his body...somehow.

"Not exactly..." Jellal interrupted before continuing. "I am using my magic to control my limbs and body. Of course I can't really bring out all of my abilities like this, but the trade off of being immune to your curse is worth it."

Seilah sighed as she removed the L.A.M from her person handing it over to Flrea. "You know what to do right? Then I suggest you hurry up and get going."

"Eh? Wait you want me to go through a place like this by myself?" Flrea pointed out as Seilah looked down at the plant monster.

"Honestly, you are starting to sound like Lamy."

It seemed that being compared to Lamy was enough to cause Flrea to run. He quickly buried himself into the ground traveling through the soil and stone.

Seilah eyes cut back to Jellal who hadn't made a single move.

"Aren't you going to try and strike him?"

"No need, like I said I want to figure out why you are collecting the cube pieces in the first place. Zeref is dead, and in his current condition can never be resurrected. Even then, most of his creations were destroyed once he died, which makes it all the more confusing why you are standing in front of me."

There they went, claiming Lord Zeref was dead. It would have been far more irritating if Seilah knew they weren't wrong.

"As you said yourself, I'm standing before you...is that not enough proof that Zeref lives on?"

Jellal didn't respond as he crossed his arms beams of light shined around his body before launched directly towards Seilah, it seemed that the time for talking was long over.

Seilah closed her eyes a barrier of books quickly circled around her creating what seemed to be a dome. However, something was odd about the shield, the moment Jellal's attack hit it, they were bounced off.

Jellal moved his body slightly avoiding his reflected attacks before noting the cover of the books seemed to have been mirrors.

"You humans aren't the only ones capable of evolving their abilities." Seilah pointed out as she launched two of her books towards Jellal.

From the way that they were fired he would barely need to dodge to avoid them. Which is what concerned him the most.

As he swayed his body expecting the book to pass harmlessly by it suddenly expanding to nearly ten times it normal size.

"What?" Jellal eye twitched as the book came towards him like a large jaw. Slamming shut while he was in between its pages.

Seilah eyes narrowed, her eyes focusing on the book. She knew far too well something so simple wouldn't finish off someone like him, and it seemed that her thoughts were confirmed as beams of light erupted from the cover shredding the book to pieces.

Jellal emerged completely unharmed.

As much as she hated to admit it, this was going to take longer than she thought.

* * *

Jerome glanced over to Ikaruga who was fighting both Meredy and Sorano. He cursed himself as he swung his sword cutting through at least ten smaller angels. However every time he did two more would appear in their place.

Despite his ability to dissolve anything with his black magic, it seemed that the creatures were able to break off pieces of their body before they could completely vanish.

So, his entire area was simply covered in white. His vision almost completely blocked out by the angel like creatures with the large gapping jaws.

"Just my luck..." The blond knight eyes narrowed as the creatures rushed towards him. He gripped his blade tightly, swinging again making an opening so he could slip out.

Still the entire thing would have been pointless if he couldn't kill them. It seemed that he needed to find a way to destroy them in a single attack, an ability he really didn't have.

Before he could think of a plan he noticed a large shadow appear over him. He stared up noticing the creatures attacking from above in a swarm. He lifted his long blade as the creatures collided with his sword, dissolving the instant their bodies hit it.

Yet there was still more coming as he noticed the ground underneath him starting to move and shift.

"Even from below?!" Jerome barely had time to jump as the creatures came from beneath him. Jerome went to move, only to notice that he was completely surrounded from all sides.

Hud looked over to his guildmate. "Yikes, Jerome!" The monster motioned towards the swordsmen as Sawyer let out an irritated grunt.

"I sai-" Sawyer didn't even get to finish his statement as Hud grabbed the Crime Sorciere before turning his body like a top. In a single motion Hud tossed Sawyer as had as possible towards a wall.

However instead of hitting the wall like usual Sawyer went right through it, in other words he wasn't just ejected from the room, but rather the mountain itself as light suddenly poured into the area.

"W-what? Sawyer!" Macbeth snapped not noticing Hud quickly closing the distance between them.

Hud reeled back his fist, preparing to striking Macbeth, however his attack never reached. It was as if some sort of invisible field was stopping his attack.

Macbeth just glared at Hud. "Even if it's a purely physical attack, you will never be able to reach me..."

Hud didn't react at first, his arms simply started to vibrate violently as if they were twisters.

"What are yo-" Suddenly, Macbeth felt two impacts on his chest, as if he had been punched. Despite Hud's fist never making contact with him, the force of the attack somehow managed to slip through his Distorted Shield.

The attack forced Macbeth to the ground, a loud puff of smoke rising from the where he was.

The Crime Sorciere sat up noting Hud making his way towards Jerome. "That bastard has been holding back since the start of this battle..."

Hud made his way towards the swordsmen before taking a deep breath. He then let out a shout towards the angels. The moment the wave of sound hit the creatures they popped like balloons.

"Wait Hud I'm still..." Jerome winced as he put up his sword. It seemed that in Hud's haste to save him, he nearly blew away the person he was trying to help.

Luckily Jerome managed to avoid being blasted away as Hud grinned.

"Hey, you're not dead, that's good!" Hud said something rather morbid casually as the knight sat up.

"Thanks, but you should really avoiding doing that so casually. I thought you were the one that was going to kill me for a moment.

Hud just scratched the back of his head. "Hehehehe, sorry, anyway you should probably help Ikaruga, I need to finish up my fight."

Before Jerome could respond his guild-leader ran back towards Macbeth leaving the knight confused. Still, to say that he wasn't glad that his guildmaster saved him would have been a lie.

Considering his last leader legit tried to sacrifice him to a god, to say that it was a management improvement would have been an understatement.

Hud walked back up to Macbeth who was dusting himself off. The two glared at one another before Macbeth let out an irritated sigh.

"Just looking at you, you're not someone I can take lightly...so from here on out I'm going to be pushing myself." Macbeth pointed out as Hud smiled.

"Great! Because I'm going to start going all out soon myself!"

 **Author note**

 **Another shortish chapter. I think I covered every character, the fights will probably continue on to the next chapter. This arc is probably going to be about 3-4 more chapters long.**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Guildmaster vs Guildmaster

Hud crossed his arms glaring at Macbeth as he returned the monster's gaze.

It was irritating to say the least. The fact that his enemy wasn't even using magic yet posed such a large threat. Still...

"I'm just going to cut to the chase and get straight to the main event." Macbeth smiled as Hud shifted his stance expecting anything.

In an instant the entire air of the cavern shifted as the other members of Demon Fang and Crime Sorciere stopped their battle turning their attention to Hud and Macbeth.

"So...he's going to use that." Erik stated smiled as Macbeth's body started to twitch.

He gave a harsh cry as his body slowly started to grow, darkness slowly wrapped itself around the mage as the wind started to blow.

"W-what the hell?" Jerome frowned as he turned his eyes slowly looked towards the ceiling. The mage once known as Midnight had distorted himself into a terrifying creature.

"Oh my, don't tell me such a thing frightens you." Sorano's words caused the knight to flinch as he and Ikaruga turned their attention back to their opponents.

"That is Macbeth's ability. You guys should just give up now before this gets any worse," Meredy stated as Ikaruga remained silent, a smile slowly creeping onto her face.

"That beast won't last long..."

"What?" Sorano frowned at the pink-haired swordsman statement as she continued.

"It's best not to underestimate our guild master. He is not the sharpest, but when it comes to combat I he will not be defeated by such a thing. Besides, we should be focusing on our own battle." Ikagura stated as Meredy and Sorano prepared for another exchange.

"So...feeling like giving up yet?" The creature stared down at Hud as the guild master of Demon Fang scanned his opponent before letting out a laugh.

"Man, I didn't know humans could transform? Talk about exciting!" Hud cracked his knuckles.

The creature let out a low growl. The fact that he didn't show a hint of fear or surprise was blood boiling. However, it didn't matter, if he thought that he had truly transformed then that was all that was needed to secure Macbeth's victory.

* * *

"It's telling me it's down this hole..."

Flrea frowned as he stared down what seemed to be a bottomless put in the center of the mountain. He looked at the device that as a large beeping sound echoed through the cavern.

"Ah this is the worst...asking me to do something dangerous like this." Flrea frowned. Despite it being his idea he was starting to regret his decision.

A small vine sprouted out of his back burying itself into the soil acting as a sort of cable. Flrea then put the device back into his chest as he slowly descended down the dark chasm.

As he crawled down the hole of darkness something eerie started to happen. If Flrea had a heart, it would have skipped a beat, but instead his eyes saw something that wasn't right.

There was a light at the bottom of the hole. Which didn't make sense, the opposite should have been true. Upon reaching what seemed to be the bottom of the chasm Flrea was greeted with a rather shocking discovery.

Mountains upon mountains of golds, jewels and other goods scattered around the area. So many that it was impossible to even see the ground anymore as Frlea sighed releasing himself from the vine like cable.

"I-I knew that Azalea was a hoarder, but this is crazy." The small plant monster frowned. The size of the chamber was bigger than the entire Demon Fang Guild Hall.

"I should probably start looking." Flrea stated as he took out Lamy's device scanning the area with it.

There was nothing too strange about it, but there was still a nagging feeling in the back of Frlea's head.

Where was the light coming from, it seemed that the gold he was walking through was reflecting some sort of light. However he couldn't see how that was possible considering how deep he was inside the mountain.

So, on a whim, Frlea looked towards the ceiling. The moment he did his body froze, his body unable to move.

It was as if there was a forest hanging upside down before him. Trees clinging to the ceiling, but that wasn't the horrible part.

What he saw was multiple plant like some open others closed twitching and moving away ever so slightly. In the center was a large red orb glowing like the sun, it was beating and twitching as if it was some sort of organ.

"E-Ehh-" Frlea instantly covered his mouth as to not scream. Even though he wasn't able to see what was in the blood like orb, there was no doubt about it. The Country Destroying monster known as Azalea.

Frlea nearly collapsed, the moment he realized that fact he was petrified. Monsters had no aura or anything of the sort, but just being around a being who existence was so much grander than his made him want to die.

"T-this is impossible..." Frlea whispered to himself as he scanned the ceiling again. It was clear that Azalea wasn't awake, the fact that he was still alive proved that much.

But at the same time he had no idea what course of action to take. If the eyes were still open there was still a chance they were giving information to the monster above him.

Even if she didn't wake up any time soon she would be pissed if he stole something and might come after him.

Still...

"I said I would get the cube part so..." Frlea frowned as he took a deep breath. The area was large and he had a lot of ground he needed to cover. "As long as she doesn't move I should be good."

However that wasn't the only thing he noticed as he turned his attention to one of the many gold piles. On the top was a single black sword sticking out, similar to the one white blade that contained Juliet.

"Could that be..."

* * *

Hud dodged another swipe as he clung to the ceiling of the cave. The monster arms flinched as hundreds of tendrils came shooting out as Hud kicked off the ceiling landing back onto the ground.

"What's wrong? You haven't even tried to strike me..." Macbeth laughed as Hud responded.

"Because...I wanted to see if I could knock you out in a single blow." There wasn't a smile on Hud's face, rather an uncharacteristic glare as Macbeth froze, if only for a moment.

"Y-you idiot you are g-"

"You haven't gotten that much stronger have you?" Hud cut the beast off as Macbeth growled.

Did he see through his illusion? No, the fact that Hud was still treating it him as if he had transformed completely crushed that possibility. It was most likely closer to the fact that Hud simply didn't care.

The entire point of the magic was to confuse and petrify the enemy. However if the enemy didn't feel such things then if the magic was effective, the entire point was moot.

"D-damn it!" Macbeth lifted his false claw as Hud eyes narrowed. His arms started to vibrate again as he lifted both of them.

The attack happened in an instant as two holes appeared on the creature. One on its chest and one through its stomach. The wall behind it shattered, breaking open as the light shined through.

The illusion slowly dissolved as Macbeth true form appeared, he slowly collapsed onto the ground his body beaten and battered by two blows.

"Gosh, that transformation looked scary, but you should probably practice with it a bit more..." Hud let out a goofy laugh as Macbeth groaned.

"I didn't actually transfo-" he didn't even finish is statement as he fainted leaving Hud the victor of the exchange.

Erik turned his attention away from Juliet to look at the scene. "Damn it, he actually lost to that guy?" The dragon slayer growled as he and the rest of Crime Sorciere to like at the guild master of Demon Fang.

Somehow their 5 to 4 advantage had turned to a 3 to 4 disadvantage. Macbeth had been knocked out and Sawyer had been completely removed from the battle for the time being.

"Oh, what happened to all that confidence from before?" Juliet smiled as she blocked another one of Erik's blows. "Now that our guild master is freed up we will wipe the floor with the rest of you!"

He couldn't argue with that as he noticed Hud's gaze falling upon the rest of the Crime Sorciere before something unexpected happened.

"I'll leave the rest to you guys, I'm going after Seilah and Frlea!" Hud grinned as the remained three Demon Fang members remained silent.

"W-what are you talking about Hud? Wouldn't make more sense for us to finish these guys so we can all go together?" Jerome pointed out as Hud pouted.

"Nah, the rest of these guys don't seem that strong. So I'm going straight after the leader, see yah!" Hud smiled as he ran down the cave leaving both Crime Sorciere and Demon Fang Dumfounded at his decision to do so.

Ikaruga was honestly starting to regret even giving him a passing complement considering how he was acting at the moment.

* * *

More beams of light reflected off of the book covers as Seilah's fortress of paper opened up ever so slightly.

"Perhaps it is best that you give up, no doubt my comrades have finished off the rest of you lot and are making their way here at this very moment." Seilah pointed out as Jellal simply smiled.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing."

The two stared each other down for another moment as footsteps echoed through the hall. It seemed that they were going to find out who was right sooner than expected.

"Hey! Seilah!" Hud waved from the back as Jellal bit his lip. It seemed that he underestimated the other members of Demon Fang.

"Oh, Monster I was expecting you." Seilah voice was calm as Hud looked straight past Jellal and scanned the book fortress that the demon had created.

"Geez Seilah, aren't you a bit old to be doing something like that?" Hud laughed as Seilah's eye twitched. She ultimately decided to ignore the comment, she had no interest in correcting him.

"Monster, now that you are here things have gotten far simpler...let us hurry and kill this man and find Frlea."

"Huh? Frlea isn't with you?" Hud tilted his head.

"We ultimately decided that splitting up was for the best," Seilah stated as Hud nodded before turning his attention back to the mage with the eye tattoo.

Jellal took a step back weighing his options. Running might have been the best choice considering he was outnumbered and he had no information on Hud or his abilities.

"So, did you actually manage to defeat Macbeth and Sawyer or..." In the back of Jellal head, he couldn't believe that some no named guy was able to defeat them. It just seemed unlikely, at least to the blue haired mage.

"Yep! Honestly, they really should practice more." Hud tone was all that Jellal needed to hear for him to know it wasn't a lie.

"Monster, I think that is enough conversation. This man is far more dangerous than he lets on, and we need to remove him as soon as possible." Seilah insisted.

Perhaps it was the embarrassment that he had delivered to her from earlier, or maybe she honestly did see that Jellal wasn't one that could be left alone. Either way, she was preparing another attack as Hud crossed his arms once again as if he was thinking.

"Seilah, you go on ahead. I'll fight this guy by myself."

Both Jellal and Seilah's eyes widened at the statement.

"What...are you talking about?" Seilah was bluntly confused at his statement. There was no logical reason for Hud to want to fight alone.

"Well, Frlea is by himself, and I'm kind of worried about him." Hud pointed out, but Seilah knew better than that. That was probably only a very small part of the reason as to why Hud would want to stay and fight alone.

"We can look for him after we kill this man." Seilah eyes narrowed as Hud just laughed scratching the back of his head.

"Alright, that's not the reason...it's more that it wouldn't be fair to gang up on him like this."

It was just as stupid of an explanation. "That is not a good reason Monster..."

"Aw, come on Seilah. I'll beat this guy, so just find Frlea so we can all leave together." Hud insisted as the horned demon groaned. When it came to battle Hud was stubborn.

Even if it actively hindered him, he would always pick a fair fight over teaming up with his friends unless the enemy also had a partner. The energy she spent arguing with her guild master would have been better spent finding and helping Frlea.

"Very well, but do not make me regret this decision." With a simple snap of her fingers Seilah barrier of books vanished as she walked down the dark hall leaving Jellal and Hud alone.

Jellal looked over to Hud, he didn't know if he felt relieved or insulted about what had just happened. However, above all he simply felt confused as to why an enemy of his would give him a higher chance of victory.

Hud was stretching as if nothing strange had happened as Jellal looked over to him.

"Why did you do that?" Jellal asked bluntly as Hud tilted his head.

"Why? Because it's fair, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I beat you like that. You are the leader of this group, this might be my only chance to see what you can do and I'm not going to waste it."

The explanation made Jellal... uneasy. Not because the statement itself was bad, but rather it was a statement that someone who was apart of a dark guild shouldn't have said.

It sounded like something a member from Fairy Tail would say.

"What is your goal?"

"To get stronger!" Hud grinned, his expression was someone who was saying it from the bottom of their heart.

Sadly, the answer really didn't give Jellal any more insight on the person in front of him.

"That's not what I mea-"

"Can we fight now?" Hud cut him off as Jellal sighed, maybe he was reading too much into the person in front of him. Even the former sage had enough self-awareness to realize that.

Regardless, now that Seilah was no longer around he didn't need to devote a portion of his magic to manually controlling his body. Meaning he would have access to all of his abilities.

Jellal put his hands on the ground, in an instant, a yellow light surrounded the blue haired mage as he rushed towards Hud.

Hud eyes widened as he instinctively swayed his body dodging the meteor-like attack. Jellal kicked off the wall rushing towards his enemy again.

"Wah," Hud lifted his arm blocking the attack, however, the moment Hud did he felt another impact on his side.

Hud slid back smiling as Jellal eyes narrowed as he continued his assault.

Despite his speed Jellal wasn't actually able to land a good hit on the monster. Not only that, but as Hud continued to block and dodge the attacks it seemed like his body was naturally adapting to the erratic movements.

Jellal's eyes narrowed as he started to kick off the walls once again trying to find the perfect spot to attack.

"There!" Jellal attack came from above his fist reeled back ever so slightly

"...!" Without saying a word Hud's eyes widened. At that moment Jellal felt a impact in his stomach as his body stiffened ever so slightly.

"Wow, you're fast, but your movements are kind of predictable. Muscle memory is weird like that."

Jellal's eyes narrowed as he kicked off of the monster landing back. If he wasn't coated in magic Hud's attack would have done serious damage.

"That speed of yours..." Jellal frowned, despite the compliment he had received from Hud even the mage realize that his enemy movements weren't anything to scoff at.

Jellal knew that he probably wasn't going to be able to end the fight with just Meteor, but the way Hud was moving made it clear that he needed it active at all times to even keep up.

Still, Jellal needed one more exchange to know how to approach his enemy best. Jellal took a step forward vanishing as Hud smiled matching his enemies speed.

Rocks and stone were smashed as the two exchanged blows. The cave started to shake as walls started to break apart. The two skid to the other end of the tunnel as they both rushed towards one another.

With a single blow, they simultaneously struck one another. Their fists imprinting themselves on each other cheek. The two jumped back, their faces burning as Hud laughed.

"Man, this is great!" Hud laughed as Jellal grumbled.

"That confirms it, he isn't even using magic, and he is keeping up with me." Jellal was impressed. To surpass Meteor with sheer brute strength wasn't something a normal person would be able to do.

Jellal frowned as he crossed his arms raising his arms over his head. At that moment a large gust of wind blew out before Hud felt a cyclone was trying to pull him in.

A large black orb appeared over Jellal's head. This wasn't an ability Jellal enjoyed using, but due to the enclosed space and him still wanting to test his enemy he made an exception.

"W-what the heck?!" Hud eyes widened as Jellal threw the orb towards the monster. The width of the attack was nearly the length of the cavern.

Jellal expected Hud to dodge the attack, but instead...the monster raised his arms grabbed the orb.

The stone beneath Hud's feet started to crack as he was pushed back by the orb of gravity. The Hud then took a deep breath as he kicked the attack to the side punching a hole through the side of the mountain revealing vines and roots as if they were the veins of the mountain.

"Yikes, that was close!" Hud looked at his still twitching fingers as Jellal closed his eyes.

"You...who are you, I would have heard about someone like you."

"Huh? Well, I'm Monster Hud, that's all." Hud response was as bland as his reason for fighting.

"Monster..." Jellal said that name as he looked over to the opening that altairis had made. Jellal walked over to the opening as he took a single step out, looking down from the side of the mountain to the trees below.

"We'll continue this outside." Jellal casually left the area as Hud eye twitched.

"Oy! Wait!" Hud snapped as he followed Jellal out of the cavern.

 **Author note.**

 **This was kind of messy chapter. I realized I am not good with group scenes, even more so with over eight characters fighting in the same room.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

 **I wanted to fight you at your best!**

Hud followed Jellal outside, the two of them sliding down the side of the mountain. However the blue haired made turned his body so he was facing the monster. Jellal's eyes were sharp as he raised his hands to the sky.

"Isn't it a bit presumptuous to assume that I won't attack while moving?" That was the only thing Jellal said as Hud eyes widened.

The monster raised his arms expecting attack directly from his enemy. However the attack didn't come from Jellal himself, but rather...

"Wah!" Hud felt something heavy hit his shoulder nearly knocking him out of his slide. He looked above to see five lights slowly descended upon him as twisted his body avoiding the attack.

"It...came from the sky." Hud frowned as each one of the beams left an impact on the mountain side. Hud then took a deep breath, before slamming both his hands into the mountain sending a wave directly towards Jellal.

Jellal flinched as he moved his feet changing his direction as a small surface of the mountain was change to jagged stones and rocks. Both guildmasters landed on the nearly created footing that Hud created as they stared each other down.

"Is that why you wanted to fight outside?" Hud had a pout on his face as Jellal answered.

"Yes, you see I use the Heavenly Body Magic, and while it's useful in more closed off spaces if I want to use its full effects a wide open space is required."

Jellal didn't mind giving his opponent the bare minimum of information about his magic. If only to give context about the difference in ability and scope that was between him and his enemy.

"So you're saying, out here...you're at your best?" Hud asked as Jellal nodded.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"...That's great, if I had a handicap of any kind then this battle would be pointless!" Hud laughed, his statement once again catching Jellal off guard.

Still, it wasn't his place to think about it. At that moment, all he had to do was defeat the monster in front of him and get back to the rest of his guild.

Jellal placed his hands on the jagged footing coating himself in meteor once again. This time however he raised his left hand as nine swords of light appeared behind the mage.

"Jiu Leixing!" Jellal said as Hud raised both of his arms.

"...!" Jellal's attack was instantaneous as stones that Hud was standing on exploded in a large cloud of smoke and electricity.

Jellal eyes narrowed, he knew better than to think such an attack would be enough to finish of an opponent that showed such competency. It seemed his hunch was correct as something jetted out of the smoke to the sky above.

Hud clothing was torn ever so slightly, a small bit of electricity still sparking off of his body.

"Yikes that was close...and that jerk even destroyed my footing." Hud frowned as he looked down at Jellal who was gazing up towards the monster. "I guess the only way I'll hit a guy like that is by surprising him." Reeled his fist back as Jellal's eye brows raised.

What was he planning on doing? Jellal knew the distance was far too wide for the monster to close before he launched his next attack. Not only that, but Jellal didn't sense any magic coming from him or any weapons.

"What his he doing?" Jellal crossed his arms preparing for a frontal attack.

"Alright... how about this!" Hud swung his arm through the air as if he was delivering a right hook to an invisible ghost.

Jellal didn't really understand why he would do an attack that would whiff, that was until he felt the impact of a punch to the side of his head.

"Gah!" The blow was strong enough to break the mage's footing sending him sliding down the mountain again.

"D-did he use magic?" Jellal winced, before quickly dismissing it. His opponent didn't seem like the type to use anything sneaky like that. Though the other option was probably just as absurd.

"Tsk..." Jellal frowned as he pointed his hands to the sky as he continued to slide down the mountain on his back.

"Hu-" Hud was cut off as he felt something strike his back forcing him towards the ground.

"Gah, I'll miss the mountain if I'm like this..." Hud frowned as Jellal eyes narrowed.

Without the ability to fly creatures couldn't easily change their direction easily. The moment Hud decided to jump he was in the perfect position to be hit by Pleiades.

Hud frowned as his legs started to vibrate. "I guess I should give this a try..." Hud frowned as he kicked the air, the force of his attack allowing him to alter his direction slamming him back into the side of the mountain.

"T-that was close!" Hud stated as he started to slide once again. Both he and Jellal were rather close as the tattooed mage thought about his next course of action.

"If he can't use magic then..." Jellal's eyes twitched as Hud felt something come over him.

"Gah, what the..." Hud limbs slowed down as Jellal grumbled.

Whether it was because of his will or his weight telekinesis didn't seem to affect him much. Still, it didn't mean it couldn't be useful in this battle.

Jellal moved his hand slightly as the chunks of mountain in front of started to bend and break.

"T-that guy must be psychic." Hud moved his body, however his foot ended up getting caught in the destruction flipping his weight.

"Wah!" Hud started to tumble as he started to slide on his face as Jellal eye twitched.

The sight was...rather ridiculous, but he didn't let the absurdity of the situation stop him as Jellal prepared to attack but before he could he heard a sickening shout.

At that moment Jellal was completely petrified, as if ever single molecule of his body was forced to move and shake. It even forced meteor to deactivate. The only thing he was able to do was see Hud lifting his head slightly.

"I-I managed to yell in time..." Hud smiled, he knew the effects weren't going to last long. He regained his footing as he slammed the tip of his toe into the large structure before kicking.

Once again he sent a shockwave towards the mage, but this time Jellal was unable to dodge. As the attack collided with his chest ripping a bit of his coat and shirt.

"Gah!" Jellal winced as he finally regained control of his body. They were nearing the base of the mountain as he reactivated meteor slamming his feet into the mountain side stopping his decent.

Hud did the same, pushing his fingers into the stone as the two stared each other down.

Jellal didn't realize just how much damage he took just by being hit by one of Hud's attack while meteor wasn't active. There was no doubt about it, if his actual foot had collided with him then the fight would have been over in an instant.

Jellal held his chest before he started talking. "You know, if you fought me with that demon then I would have lost...no question." Jellal stated bluntly as Hud just laughed.

"Meh, that would have been boring. Besides, I am learning a lot about my own abilities by fighting you..." Hud gave a genuine grin. It was like he wasn't treating their current battle like it was a life or death situation.

"What...do you want? You don't seem like the type that wants revenge or anything of the sort. Why would you ally yourself with a demon?" Jellal asked as Hud used his free hand to scratch his cheek.

"Ah, well Seilah is my friend so this isn't a big deal. Besides, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here fighting you right now."

The answer was, strange. "So, you are doing this because of your friends?" Jellal continued to question Hud as the monster shook his head.

"Not completely, sure they are important to me, but I don't fight just for my friends. I fight because I want to get better, to meet that invincible me at the very end. My friends are strong enough to protect themselves, I'm here because I want to fight another guildmaster at his very best!"

Jellal's eyes widened as this time it was Hud's turn to ask a question.

"Anyway, why are you here tattoo face? Or rather, why do you fight? Something like this doesn't happen randomly..."

Jellal didn't really understand Hud's question, but perhaps a straightforward answer. "I fight, to make up for my past mistakes...or redemption."

Hud remained silent for a moment before giving a frown. "Isn't that...really sad?"

"Hmm?" Jellal tilted his head as Hud continued.

"If you only fight and get stronger to make up for past mistakes then you won't make it far. No matter who you hurt, you have to move on from that sort of thing...well at least if you ever want to beat me!" Hud laughed as Jellal remained silent a smile slowly appearing on his face.

"I must apologize to you again. I wasn't taking you seriously up to this point. However from here on out, I won't be looking from above you, but on your same level." Without warning Jellal threw off his coat.

"Oh, well thanks, but I still have to beat you!" Hud responded as Jellal closed his eyes. At that moment, seven magic seals appeared in the sky in a for of a constellation.

Hud eye twitched as he prepared to dodge another attack. However, this time instead of the beams targeting him they embedded themselves onto the side of the mountain, a hot energy glowing from them.

"Huh?" Hud tilted his head as the sounding area started to grumble.

"Grand Chariot!" In an instant a harsh light covered everything as Hud was completely consumed by the attack.

It was as if half of the mountain had been struck by a meteor. All the rock and stone were completely torn to shreds as the surrounding forest at the base caught fire.

Hud was sent flying to the tree below as the once solid mountain started to shake a rumble. If the stone was the skin, then the vines were the muscle and the muscles had started moving.

"O-ow!" Hud held his head, paying no mind to the burning inferno surrounding him. His clothes were once again in tatters as the ground beneath him started to rumble.

However it wasn't because of Jellal's attack, but rather...

"Y-yikes did we wake up Azalea!" Hud frowned closing his eyes. "No, she is still asleep."

Hud let out a sigh of relief as he noticed Jellal sliding down what was left of the chunk of mountain.

Even the mage seemed somewhat concern by the large vines whipping violently, however that was something he would need to deal with after he defeated Hud.

"The fact that you are still standing after that..." Jellal glared at him as Hud slowly brushed off the dirt before ripping off the rest of his battered shirt.

"Sorry, but I'm not going down like that." Hud stated as he lowered his stance.

Jellal raised his hand as seven more swords appeared behind him. This would be the last act of their battle.

"..."

In a flash Jellal launched two of the blades at Hud's location. However this time, the monster completely avoided the attack jumping back.

Once again Jellal lifted his hands towards the sky calling upon Pleiades

Hud didn't even need to turn his attention towards the attack, as his body naturally dodged the falling stars as he closed the distance between him and the blue haired mage.

Jellal crossed his arms taking the remaining five swords of Jiu Leixing swinging them as if they were actually blades.

Hud eyes widened as he slipped through the attack, his movements similar to that of a beast. Hud was close enough, as he reeled his fist back.

"Damn..." Jellal raised his arms making sure to cover his body in Meteor as Hud attack connected. Jellal's eye twitched, it felt like his arm was about to snap in two.

Jellal was forced back, his feet sliding against the dirt as Hud continued to rush towards him.

"I...can't afford to draw out this battle any longer." Jellal raised his hands as a large magic circle appeared over his head. "It's been awhile since I've used this..."

A technique that only those who had mastered the four elemental magic would be able to do. Abyss break.

Hud stopped as a large dark beam of light was fired directly at him. The surrounding trees were completely vaporized.

"W-woah!" Hud eyes widened as the attack seemingly enveloped him.

A large explosion followed as the attack left a scar on the land. Despite that, Jellal didn't see a single trace of Hud in or around the crater the attack had left.

"Where co-" Jellal flinched as he felt something grip his ankles. He looked down noticing a pair of hands tightly wrapped around him. Before he could react he was flung skyward, Hud digging out of the ground.

Jellal winced as he activated Meteor once again as it flickered on. He managed to guide his body back towards the ground. Jellal was nearly out of magic, his next attack would have to finish is opponent off.

"I am actually surprised that he didn't just take the attack or run through it considering how durable you are." Jellal smiled, perhaps it was because a part of him was enjoying the exchange.

"Ah, well I'm getting kind of tired...if I keep getting hit like that I will probably end up losing." Hud replied taking deep breaths.

It made sense he was hit by heavenly magic, an attack that had the force of a meteor and blades made of electricity. The fact that he was still standing at all was impressive in itself.

"This will be my final attack." Jellal stated bluntly.

The blue haired mage then bowed down, his fingers pointed towards the ground. He then moved his free hand slowly pointing it towards the sky. In an instant the sky darkened as large gust of winds started to blow.

A large vortex appeared in the sky as Hud covered his eyes. "I-is he summoning a storm or something?"

As the storm continued a large bright orb slowly started to appeared from the center of the hurricane slowly sliding out. Jellal jumped back, clinging to what remained of the stone section of the forever mountain.

"This is my strongest spell. True Heavenly Body Magic: Sema!"

If Grand Chariot had the force of a meteor, then Sema was the actual meteor that would descend down destroying all in its wake.

"W-what, n-no way?" Hud eye twitched, has face turning pale. "To think, humans could do something like this!"

Finally with one last movement. The large asteroid descended towards earthland, it's target directly Hud.

Even if he tried to dodge it, the resulting explosion and winds would be enough to finish him off. At least that is what Jellal was planning Hud would do.

However that wasn't what happened. Instead Hud planted both of his feet into the ground as he lifted his hands.

"What is he..." Jellal looked as the winds started to pick up. The red light from the meteor consuming all other colors in the area.

"Fine then let's have it!" That was the only thing Hud said as the meteor collided with him. However, instead of an explosion the impact was stopped as Hud caught the giant stone of fire.

He winced as the weight forced him onto one knee. The ground beneath him slowly started to break causing him to sink further into the ground.

"D-damn it!" The ground started to give way as Hud nearly fell onto his back, the meteor still pushing its way towards him.

"The fact that you lasted this long commendable. However, it is clear that this is your limit..."

Despite the sound of shattering trees and breaking stone, Hud was still able to hear Jellal's words. For some reason he felt something rising up in his body, not because of his friends, not because of the situation he was put in, but rather...

"Don't you dare say that I have a limit!" Hud face turned red as he forced the stone upward. He then took a deep breath, the largest breath that he had ever took and let out a scream.

In an instant, all the force that the meteor had was blown away as Hud's shout forced back up towards Jellal.

"T-this..." Jellal winced as he tried to activate Meteor. However the spell failed to start, he was completely out of magical energy as the stone that he had thrown at Hud was being sent right back at him.

"D-damn..." Jellal held his hand out, but the moment his fingers touched the rock it exploded. Consuming both he and Hud in fire and brimstone.

The entire mountain shook once again. The few remaining trees in the area were knocked down as dust and dirt swirled about.

After everything was said and done, there was nothing but a large crater in the area next to the mountain. Their battle had taken them from the middle point of the mountain all the way to the base as Hud laid face down in the dirt, his body twitching ever so slightly.

"Gah..." Hud groaned as he lifted his head to see a figure standing over him.

It was Jellal, his body still up right as he stared down at the monster. Hud couldn't help but laugh at the sight as he staggered to his feet once again, lifting both of his arms.

"You...still want to keep fighting?" That was the first thing that came out of the tattooed face man as Hud nodded.

"Of course, if you're still standing then I have to keep standing too!" It was a childish thought process that lead the monster to the fight to begin with.

Jellal didn't speak for a moment as he asked another question. "What magic did you use? Or maybe you were using a curse?"

"I...don't use magic, or curses. Everything I've done was done through physical strength."

Jellal didn't reply, perhaps because a part of him didn't believe his enemy. Or maybe, if he did say anything he would have burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.

Regardless...

"It seems...we both learned something today." Jellal sighed as he collapsed onto his side with a small thud. Hud eyes widened as he looked at the blue haired mage lying on the ground.

"Ah, let's call it a draw." Hud smiled as he struggled to stay standing.

Even if he was the one still awake he could barely move his body. He doubted he could even make it back to where the others were, let alone fight.

Still, he was able to gain something from fighting the former wizard saint. Something he wouldn't have gotten if he had Seilah's or anyone else's help.

As Hud dragged his body back towards the towering mountain he heard a harrowing cry. His body froze as he looked up at the broken and battered mountain before him.

"W-wait, don't tell me..."

The surrounding area started to shake once again, and this time it didn't stop.

Because this time the Country Destroying monster known as Azalea had awoken.

 **Author note.**

 **Originally this chapter was supposed to cut between Hud's perspective and Seilah's and Frlea's perspective, but I decided just to focus on the fight between Hud and Jellal this time around.**

 **As for the guest review. Originally, I was planning on having Hud and Seilah be the paring, but I noticed they went together as romantically as water and oil. I do have another OC planned that would fit with her well, but I don't know if I should make them male or female.**

 **Hell, I don't know if I should go with the original plan and make it Hud and Seilah.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

 **Escape!**

"O-okay, I got everything..." Frlea frowned as he picked up the pieces of the cube placing them in his chest. After all, he was a plant after all so doing something like that was simple. However, the cube pieces weren't the only items that he managed to obtain.

He lifted a pitch-black sword over his head examining it. "I guess I can do this for the mucus girl since she helped out." Frlea sighed as he looked up towards the large hole that he fell through.

It would have been a pain to climb up manually would have been an understatement, even more so with his body filled with the cube parts and the L.A.M. and carrying a sword that was three times his size.

Just when it seemed the plant monster was about to be forced to do such a thing he noticed someone floating down the large hole.

"W-wha? D-did someone follow me?" Frlea flinched expecting another enemy. Instead, he was greeted with a familiar face of a horned woman.

Seilah floated down landing gracefully onto the golden coins that were scattered around the room. Her gaze shifted to Frlea as she examined the locations.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long. I did not believe you to be so incompetent to get lost with a device that pointed you in the correct direction." The demon woman pointed out as the plant monster grumbled.

"It's your fault too. You left me alone! Well at the very least you can help me carry everything." Frlea whined as Seilah examined him before lifting to of her fingers. In an instant, the pieces of the cube flew out of his chest levitating above her hand.

"Is this good enough?" Seilah asked as Frlea's eyes twitched.

"Hey...what about this sword? Couldn't you carry this too?"

"That has nothing to do with me. It's your own choice to bring it along is it not?" Seilah response was blunt as Frlea grumbled.

"Fine, whatever, let's hurry up and get out of here...the longer we stay here, the higher the chance that we have of dying." Frlea's words confused the former member of the demon gate, that was until she looked up.

"...W-what is that?" Seilah's stoic expression broke as she looked at the strange pulsating heart like organ hanging from the ceiling of the room.

"N-no, don't look at it, pretend it doesn't even exist, let's just hurry up and get out of here." Frlea tried his best to keep his voice down as he jumped on Seilah's shoulders. "Now, you can fly, right? All we have to is f-"

Frlea couldn't even finish his statement as the entire room shook before it started to lean as if the entire mountain had been slightly slanted. Frlea nearly fell off of Seilah's shoulders as the gold and jewels in the room shifted.

"N-now what?" Frlea cried as Seilah's eyes narrowed.

"It must be Monster and that Jellal man's battle." Seilah pointed out as a strange feeling overcame her as if fear was starting to constrict her heart.

Frlea shivered as the sound of what seemed to be a water balloon slowly splitting open echoed through the entire mountain. Red liquid started to pour from the ceiling flooding the room.

"Hurry up! We need to get out of here!" Frlea cried as Seilah grumbled, even without Hud's and Frlea's numerous warnings she knew that the creature wasn't something she could fight.

Without even looking at what emerged from the strange organ Seilah transformed flying back up through the hole.

* * *

"Damn it...why won't you go down!" Erik snapped as Juliet's eyes narrowed, the cavern that they were in had been scared. The battle between the members of Demon Fang and Crime Sorciere had taken its toll in the surrounding area.

Holes and cracks had started to appear in the floor. Light was starting to shine into the room as Jerome, Ikaruga, and Juliet stood on one side as Erik, Meredy, and Sorano stood on the other.

"Maybe you guys should just give up and run away then." Juliet smiled, but despite the look on her face, she wanted the battle to end as well. Even if the best outcome would have been to wipe out the Crime Sorciere, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the battle was taking to long and going nowhere.

"No chance, there is no way we can let people like you do what you please!" Meredy insisted as she held her wrist preparing to strike at Ikaruga once again.

However, before anything else could happen the entire mountain shook as if it had been knocked to the side. Stone and dust started to fall from the ceiling as Erik's eye twitched for a moment his hand twitching.

"That impact...that was Jellal's Sema." Erik closed his eyes as Meredy's eyes widened.

"D-do you think he was really put in a situation that he would use that?" The pink-haired woman asked.

Erik growled before looking over at Macbeth's unconscious body. "That...freak took out both Macbeth and Sawyer if he really is fighting Jellal right now." Erik weighed his options.

Macbeth was down. Sawyer was somewhere on the outside of the mountain and as far as he knew Jellal was forced to use his strongest technique for some unknown reason. To say things were going to shit would have been an understatement.

So, the poison dragon slayer had to swallow his pride, at least for a moment. "We need t-"

At that moment Erik's body froze, his senses were going wild for no apparent reason as for some reason his hand started to shake. "W-what the hell?" It seemed completely random, but it wasn't just him that was experiencing it.

Juliet's eyes widened as her legs started to tremble for no apparent reason. "W-what is this feeling of...horror?" That was the only way the brown haired girl could describe it as. She couldn't sense any magic, but there was a sudden shift in reality.

"It's almost as if the entire mountain...no the entire country just froze," Ikaruga added.

Then, the walls started to crack open revealing transparent vines with yellow fluid flowing through as if it was blood. The floors started to crack open, the once solid stone and dirt turned into an odd mud like mulch. It was as if the entire mountain was being replaced with a living creature.

A low screech echoed through the halls as the ceiling spit open as if an eyelid was opening. Plastered all over the roof of the ceiling was large eyes made of vines and wood twitching as if scanning the area.

"W-what did you do?" Sorano looked around the area in horror. It was as if the entire mountain had shifted to a hellish landscape.

"W-we didn't do anything, don't be stupid!" Jerome quickly countered as Erik grumbled grabbing Macbeth lifting him over his shoulder.

"We are leaving. We have to find Jellal and Sawyer and get out of here." Erik stated as Meredy quickly glared at the members of demon fang.

"What about them?"

"Forget them; this place is falling apart. We can deal with them later." Erik stated as his eyes met with Sorano's as the silver-haired woman nodded before pressing her hand against her chest. She then lifted her hand in the air as a large coin appeared. Then in an instant, it transformed into a faceless winged worm landing harshly on the ground.

The creature opened its mouth as the members of Crime Sorciere entered, Erik giving them one last glare as the angel closed its mouth trying its best to tunnel through the vines and stone.

"Is it really okay letting them go like that?" Jerome asked as Ikaruga shook her head.

"There is no need. We have more pressing matters to attend to after all." The swordswomen looked up at the large eyes staring down at them. The vines were started to make their way towards them as if they were alive.

* * *

Hud bit his bottom lip as he looked up at the mountain, trees and vines were sprouting from the stone as if they were tumors. Even if he was on the outside just being around it was terrifying.

"I didn't think Country Destroyer Azalea would actually wake up. This is all my fault..." Hud winced. He was so focused on his battle with Jellal that he had completely forgotten about Frlea's warnings not making too much noise.

What was worse, was due to his fight with Jellal he wasn't in any condition to help. He could barely stand let alone fight a country destroying monster, even if he was in top condition he wouldn't stand a chance.

"Hehehe, man this is awful, but when things get this bad, I can't help but laugh a bit." Hud laughed as he took a step towards the mountain. Regardless of his condition, it wasn't like he could leave things as they were.

Hud started to drag himself back towards the mountain. Even if he didn't think he would be much help, it would be bad for a guild master to sit on the sidelines while everyone else was risking their lives.

However, Hud only got a few steps before he heard something, his nose twitched as he quickly turned around to be greeted with a kick to the chest.

"Gah!" The impact was hard enough to send him sliding against the ground before he finally stopped. He sat up looking at his foe, knowing it couldn't have been the blue haired-mage.

It was Sawyer, his goggles were cracked, and he was barely standing, but he was still standing nonetheless. "To think, someone like you actually managed to fight Jellal...but I guess it really doesn't matter looking at your condition." The biker glared at Hud as the monster struggled to get up.

"Talk about bad luck." Hud let out a goofy laugh as he struggled to get up. "I should have taken care of you completely when I had the chance."

Sawyer continued to look at Hud before looking at his guild master lying on the ground. The surrounding area had been completely decimated by the two guild masters battle, not only that but the mountain that the rest of Crime Sorciere was in was being destroyed.

"Do you honestly want to fight me in your condition? Wouldn't it be better just to give up?" Sawyer stated as Hud weakly lifted his arms.

"Sorry, I don't like losing like that. Besides, do you really want to beat me when I can barely fight back? It's not like you killing me would do anything at this point." Hud stated his eyes wandering to the now collapsing mountain.

Sawyer grumbled looking at Jellal, "before I stomp you into the ground I have to ask...why didn't you kill Jellal? You had the perfect opportunity to do so, and yet..."

Even if Hud could barely walk, it wouldn't have taken much to finish Jellal off. Yet Hud seemed more interested in getting back to the mountain than anything else.

"Oh...well I just want to fight him again, that's all." Hud smiled as Sawyer grumbled.

"Forget it." Sawyer lifted Jellal putting his guild master on his shoulder. "As much as I want to knock you around I'll have to do that later."

The Crime Sorciere member bit his bottom lip, but things had escalated to the point that fighting Hud would have been a terrible idea. At that moment the most important thing was to find the rest of his guild members and regroup, then and only then would they launch a counter attack.

Sawyer lifted his hand summoning a motorcycle before placing Jellal on the back of it. The mage then jumped on glancing back at Hud before riding.

Hud let out a sigh before turning his attention back to the mountain. "If I rest for a few minutes I should be able to move better. I just have to hope that everyone else can stay alive until then."

* * *

"C-can't you fly any faster?!" Frlea cried as the vines slowly started to chase them through the large tunnels.

"Perhaps you would like me to throw you down the hall if you have a problem with my movement speed," Seilah stated as she turned her head, the vines were moving unnaturally fast, they were closer to thorned serpents than any plant she had seen.

Though Seilah actually had a bigger problem, the tunnels they were traveling through didn't seem familiar. She knew she retraced her steps perfectly, meaning she either took a wrong turn somewhere or the mountain itself was trying to rearrange the caverns to get them lost.

However, calling it a mountain at that point seemed to have been wrong. It seemed to have been a living breathing creature.

After a few minutes of flying the vines slowed down."That is odd..."Seilah frowned.

"Maybe she hasn't completely woken up yet..." Frlea said hoping for the best case scenario.

After a few more moments of flying, they finally came upon the distorted room with the rest of the members of Demon Fang was standing. Seilah stopped her wings looking around the room.

"I assume you disposed of the enemy guild?" Seilah asked bluntly as Juliet slumped her shoulders.

"Nice to see you too..." The brown haired girl sighed before her eyes quickly focused on the long black sword that Frlea was carrying. "W-wait is that..." without saying another word Juliet snatched the black sword out of Frlea's hands, or roots be smiling.

"You better be happy! Carrying that stupid thing around was a pain." Frlea whined as Juliet grinned pressing her cheek against the black blade.

"I am! With this, me and Heine will finally be reunited." Juliet was expressing some genuine joy which was rare for her, at least without the thick layer of sarcasm that usually went with it.

"That is nice and all, but shouldn't we focus on getting out of here first?" Jerome stated holding his blade. "I tried to degenerate the walls, but as soon as I do so, it grows back."

"Not only that, but the tunnels leading in and out have been blocked off. I may be able to burn the walls, but I don't know what effect that may have."Ikaruga stated as Frlea quickly shook his head.

"D-don't do that. I think the only reason we are alive is because Country Destroyer Azalea isn't completely awake yet. Her body probably is awake, but her mind is probably still sleeping."

"So pretty much sleepwalking?" Juliet added.

"In a way, but that doesn't matter right now. Right now what's important is finding a way out of here." Frlea added looking at the wall of vines blocking their exit. The small plant creature walked up to the wall of plants before pressing his hands to the floor as he dug his roots into the ground. "It shouldn't take long for me to calm these vines down if Country Destroyer Azalea really is still asleep I should be able too..."

The moment Frlea said that white fluid started leaking from the ceiling. The members of demon fang looked up as one of the many eyes that were stuck on the ceiling had split open. In an instant, a limp body fell out covered in ooze.

The body flinched for a moment as the fluid slowly vanished revealing green skin and vine-like hair of a woman. The woman slowly stood up stretching ever so slightly before opening her eyes yawning.

"Man, being the body auto defense sure is annoying." The plant woman whipped her hair before focusing on the demon fang members. "So you're the other group, the other auto defense flower has been sent to take out the others."

Jerome, Juliet, Seilah, and Ikaruga all looked at the woman. Their bodies lowered ready to make a move. Frlea on the other had simply turned his head not making a noise trying his best not to draw attention to himself.

"Are...you the one they call Azalea?" Seilah was the first to speak as the plant creature pouted.

"Rude~ You didn't put Country Destroy before that, besides...I'm not actually Azalea, but just a part of her. To put it in terms that you squishies can understand, think of me as a white blood cell."

The woman snorted as Juliet gripped the black blade, she hadn't attacked them yet, so there was no point in making the first move. After all, even if they were capable of defeating the so-called auto defense flower, they couldn't afford to waste time fighting her.

"Well...aren't you going to attack me?" The plant woman opened her arms as if inviting them to attack. "Oh well, if you won't start then I will!"

The woman pinky finger twitched as a large row of plants appeared from under the four guild members lifting them closer to the ceiling. The only one that managed to stay beneath the suddenly created forest was Frlea, and that was simply because the plant woman hadn't noticed him yet.

"Damn it, this is bad!" Jerome groaned as the vines attempted to wrap themselves around his body.

"It seems I have no choice then." Ikaruga gripped her sword before quickly drawing it. A burst of flames erupted from her blade as if it was a snake aiming towards the vines beneath her.

As the fire approached the vines, they did not burn. Rather their harsh green color slowly turned red. In an instant, the flames were sucked in as if they were vacuumed from existence.

"W-what?" Ikaruga's eyes widened as large mouths started to sprout from the tip of the vines all aiming at the pink-haired woman.

"Idiot, we're inside a Country Destroyer, even if I am a plant, do you think fire would actually work?" The plant woman laughed as the mouths fired flames back in all directions nearly consuming the room.

As the auto defense plant stood on a hill of vines scanning the area below, the flames burning everything but the plants themselves. However, the monster didn't notice something directly above her.

"...Huh?!" The plant woman finally looked up to see Seilah directly above her. The demon woman let out a distorted cry as she lifted both of her hands the eyes in each palm opening. Like a bullet, Seilah fell on her target hitting her with the orbs of pure ethernano.

A dark purple explosion and dust filled the room as everything fell silent. Seilah continued to hover in the air. However, as the dust cleared Seilah enemy stood completely unharmed.

The plant woman's eyes widened as if in shock at what happened. Despite not having a scratch on her she was still confused. "Eh...w-was that an actual attack? Did you really show your face here and that was all you could muster?" The genuineness in the plant woman's voice shook Seilah to her core.

The plant woman wasn't sarcastic. She wasn't cruel. She was honestly shocked by how weak everyone was.

Seilah eyes widened as she attempted to flap her wings to escape. However, the auto defense plant simply lifted her finger as it extended like a spear strike Seilah in her shoulder.

Despite it being a single finger the demon felt the bones in her shoulder shatter as she was flung across the room smashing into the nearby wall. Seilah winced cursing herself. Both Hud and Frlea was right. They never should have attempted to fight such a terrifying creature.

"Geez, if you guys can't handle a simple white blood cell you wouldn't have stood a chance against the Country Destroyer proper." The plant woman snorted before she heard a loud shout.

"I-I finished taking care of the vines, hurry up and run away!" Frlea shouted from below as the plant woman's eye twitched as she stepped to the edge of the vine platform she had created looking down at the small monster.

Frlea froze instantly regretting his decision to call out to his fellow guild members. "Ah, I should have just ran away instead of waiting for everyone..." Frlea said to himself as he stared up at the woman as if she was a god.

The auto defense plant, on the other hand, had a very different reaction. Her eyes widened the moment she looked at Frlea as the vines in the surrounding area started to shake...as well as her body.

If a plant could blush, then she would have been doing so as she pressed her hands to her cheek as her vines loosened their grip on Jerome and Ikaruga.

"A-ah, w-who is this sexy beast before me?!" The green skinned woman pointed down at Frlea as the small plant took a step back.

"Ehh! Hurry up, guys! If you don't, I think I'm going to lose something I can't get back!" Frlea cried as Ikaruga and Jerome managed to cut themselves out of the vines.

Seilah slowly pulled herself from out of the wall, even if her arm was unusable. She was still conscious, even then the blow wasn't strong enough to knock her out of her etherious form.

However, despite that, there was still the issue of actually navigating the room and reaching the entrance to where Frlea was standing. That was until Seilah, Jerome and Ikaruga noticed something odd stuck to their bodies.

In an instant they were yanked out of their spots thrown towards Frlea, it was as if a bungee cord was wrapped around them.

They all landed right in front of Frlea as Juliet appeared from behind a nearby rock. "It seems my gambit paid off. Now we really need to get out of here!"

The rest of demon fang didn't need any more provocation as the dashed down the cavern leaving the plant woman dumbstruck for a few moments.

"D-damn it. I was so distracted by that hunk that I let them get away!" The auto defense plant grumbled as she stomped her foot, a wall of vines similar to a wave of water started to move chasing the members of Demon Fang.

What was left of the stone mountain was slowly starting to vanish revealing bark and leaves. If Azalea hadn't fully awakened yet, she was close.

The members of Demon Fang dashed down the hall. A sinking feeling fell on Frlea. They didn't really know where they were going, while he was able to get past the first wall of vines if they came upon a second there was no way he would be able to force them down before the auto defense plant caught up to them.

"Frlea, do you have any idea where the exit is?" Seilah asked as Frlea shook his head.

"J-just keep running and don't look back!" That was the only thing that Frlea could say as he jumped on Seilah's shoulders as the five of them made their way through the winding corridors ignoring the encroaching wall of weeds behind them.

That was until they finally reached a dead end as all of them froze.

"Great, just our luck..." Juliet frowned as she pressed her hand against the wall. Even if there was a light layer of stone, it was apparent that there were even more vines underneath it.

"Curse this, blond knight, can you not erode these with your sword?" Seilah asked bluntly as Jerome shook his head.

"They come back to quickly even for me, Frlea has to take care of it!" Jerome pointed out as Frlea shook his head.

"I-I can't do that fast enough unless someone helps me from the other side..." Frlea bottom lip started to quiver as the wave of plants inched closer towards them. "Wah, it's all over! We're going to die like this!"

Just then, as if fortune was shining upon them a loud shout was heard from the other side of the wall as both the plants and stone were ripped apart. On the other side was Hud hanging off the side of the mountain, or what was left of it looking like he was half dead.

"H-hey guys..." Hud weakly lifted his arm as Frlea's face lit right up.

"H-Hud!" Frlea cried, as he jumped off of Seilah's shoulders and onto his friends. The rest of the members of Demon Fang did the same. Jumping out of the hole that Hud had created and down the mountain.

They slid down the side as the stone and dirt slowly started to come off. It didn't take long for them to finally reach the base as Hud tripped falling flat on his face due to fatigue.

"...That's it for me. I'm spent..." Hud admitted as he struggled to move, as the rest of Demon Fang watched as the outer layer of the mountain slowly crumbled away revealing a large tree.

"It seemed that we managed to escape by a razor's edge," Ikaruga stated looking at the blooming tree.

"But...are we really safe? That plant woman might come after us again." Jerome stated barely having enough strength to stand.

"We should be, if she really was an auto defense plant, then she shouldn't be able to function outside of Country Destroyer Azalea." Frlea pointed out as Juliet smiled holding the black blade in her hands.

"Does that really matter, we got what we came for right? This can only really be considered a success." Juliet looked at the positives.

Seilah, on the other hand, stood over a collapsed Hud before letting out a sigh. "The fact that you are here must mean you must have defeated that blue haired mage?"

Hud cocked his brow before letting out a rather goofy laugh and sitting up. "Kind of, I knocked him out, but someone ended up saving him."

"That is just like you, letting someone go. Though, I suppose if it allowed you to help I shall look past it." Seilah stated as Hud looked up at the demon woman before noticing her arm.

"Yikes Seilah, are you okay?"

"Do you honestly think someone who can barely stand is in any position to ask such a thing?" Seilah pointed out as she gripped her arm. "Besides, this wound was for the sake of Demon Fang was it not?"

The moment Seilah said that Hud eyes widened before he grinned. "Yep! Thanks for looking after everyone while I wasn't around."

"Do not say such things yet, after all. We should leave this place before anything else happens." Seilah pointed out as Hud nodded.

"Right...ah but I seriously can't move." Hud frowned as his eyes slowly wandered to Jerome. "Oy, Jerome, carry me!"

"What? Why me?!"

"I don't know, I just decided by random." Hud laughed as the blond swordsmen simply groaned.

"Fine, I guess I am not really in a position to talk back to my guild master..."

With that, Demon Fang's trip to the Forever Mountain had concluded.

 **Author note.**

 **This chapter was a bit long, but I decided to put a cap on this arc. Once again, this was challenging to balance since so many scenes, and fights had a lot of characters in it at once. It makes me think when I finally do get to the Fairy Tail arc that I am going to have far more segmented fights.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

 **The Tide Goes Out**

"We're back!" Hud cheered nearly kicking down the door to their makeshift guild. The moment that he did it was apparent that something had changed between the time that they had left and come back.

The wooden floors had been all but replaced with what seemed to be steel tiling, the large tube in the center of the room now had smaller tubes attached to it as the ceiling that was about to cave in had also been repaired somewhat.

"It appears that Lamy has been busy with the guild hall," Seilah stated examining the walls.

"She probably got Fukuro and Briar to help. "Jerome added as he looked at the tables. Even they had been replaced with something a bit more elegant compared to the splintered wooden seats they were using earlier.

"Perhaps, but the outside seemed to still be in rather poor condition. She most likely only had time to do the inside." Ikaruga said as Juliet pouted still holding the black blade that they had found inside of Azalea.

"I bet that she's doing something gross, she always wastes time when someone needs her." Juliet shrugged as the returning group heard an odd shuffling noise from the top floor.

As if Juliet's words were calling a demon Lamy ran down the steps nearly tripping over herself as she did. "W-welcome back!" Lamy tried to wink as Juliet and Frlea gave the demon disgusted looks.

"Sewer tanks shouldn't try to act all cute." The plant monster didn't even hesitate to insult the bunny demon as Lamy grumbled.

"You jerk, even after I did all of this you are going to insult me like that?!" Lamy snapped back as Hud just laughed at the entire scene.

"You did a really good job, thanks!" Hud grinned as Lamy face instantly turned red before rubbing the back of her head.

"Aw...it wasn't that big of a deal, Fukuro and Briar helped a bit." Lamy gave a rather irritating laugh, no doubt understating just how much her fellow guildmates actually helped her with redesigning the interior of the guild.

"No one really cares about that, I found my friend, so hurry up and reconstruct her." Juliet lifted the black sword above her head as Lamy grumbled glaring at the white dressed demon.

"You got some nerve asking me like that! But fine, it's not like Hud would let me refuse anyway." Lamy pouted as she snatched the black blade from Juliet before opening up the tube and placing the weapon inside.

The tube started to fill up with liquid as Lamy pressed another button. "I'm going to stagger the reconstruction for a bit, so it's going to take a bit longer than usual." Lamy pointed out as Juliet's eyes narrowed.

"You aren't planning on doing anything weird with Heine are you?" Juliet asked bluntly as Lamy grumbled.

"No, but if I could, I would go back and reconstruct you without a mouth. Besides, the reason I'm staggering her reconstruction is so the new hell core can be properly tested...and also to avoid having a naked woman pop into existence in front of us."

Lamy made rather good points as Juliet sighed in defeat. "Fine, I suppose Heine would freak out way more than me if she was naked in front of a group of strangers."

"If we are done, I'm going to look for Briar," Jerome stated as he slowly walked out of the guild hall.

"I shall do the same, I must speak to Fukuro about a matter." Ikaruga closed her eyes followed the Blonde knight out of the room leaving only the monsters and demons.

Seilah sighed taking a seat at one of the many free chairs before lifting her fingers. In an instant, three pieces of the cube hovered over her hand as if to show Lamy what they had accomplished. "We have acquired three more pieces. I assume you will be able to put them to use."

With a flick of her hand, the pieces slowly floated to Lamy as the bunny-eared demon grabbed them. Lamy then looked at the pieces before pressing another button on the console and front of her, at that moment a small compartment opened up as she slid the pieces into what seemed like slots.

"Ah..." The moment she slotted them in her eyes widened. "I think that's actually enough."

"Enough? What do you mean by that?" Frlea asked the small creature knew for a fact that they didn't have all the Cube pieces. After all, the Salad Squad still had a few, and from the way, Lamy first described it there was still plenty missing.

"While we don't have all of the pieces, this is enough to reconstruct a far smaller version of the cube with most of its functions, a mini cube if you will." Lamy giggled to herself as Juliet gave a rather disgusted look.

"I guess your looks match your sense of humor."

"Quiet you!" Lamy snapped as Seilah gave an irritated sigh.

"Enough bickering...if what you said is true, then we should be able to use the newly constructed Cube as a makeshift ship?" Seilah asked as Lamy laughed.

"More than that! If I get the sizes just right, I should even be able to restore its teleportation function. We'd be able to jump from place to place again, if a bit slower than the original Cube."

"Wow, that's awesome!" Hud grinned. "So, when is it going to be ready?! Tomorrow or later on today?" Hud asked as Lamy's eyes widened in shock. A part of her was surprised that Hud said something so stupid, then again she knew her Guildmaster wasn't the brightest bulb.

"Um, Hud, this isn't a small thing. We are cutting a chunk out of the ground as well as the surrounding area. Since we are using the Hell core for this function and not a living demon like the previous cube, it's going to take a pretty long time." Lamy pointed out as Hud slumped his shoulders.

"How long..."

"About..." Lamy pressed her finger to her lips before continuing. "A month."

"W-what? that long?" Hud frowned as Seilah glanced over at the monster

"A month sounds like a fair amount of time. Rushing something like this would lead to disaster after all." The demon woman pointed out as Hud let out a sigh before sitting on the floor of the guild-hall.

"I guess you're right, besides..." Hud eyes slowly glanced over to the sword in the tank. "Once we revive Juliet's friend we'll have ten members!" Hud cheered as if that number was important.

"What's so impressive about ten members?" Juliet asked as Hud laughed.

"Because I made a promise with Seilah that once we reached ten members, we'd go fight some faeries." Hud laughed as Juliet cocked her brow.

"Do faeries actually exist?" The white dressed girl asked as Seilah crossed her legs.

"He means the guild Fairy Tail..." The demon cursed herself, she had forgotten all about that silly promise. The truth of the matter, she only said it to keep Hud satisfied, she didn't actually expect him to remember it.

"T-those guys?" Lamy stuttered, she shivered trying not to recall the last time a guild that she was apart of went against the strongest guild in Fiore.

"Fairy tail..." Juliet frowned, an uncharacteristic level of disdain entered her voice as she recalled that name.

"Huh, you know them too?" Frlea asked as Juliet nodded.

"A mage from their guild is the reason why me and Heine were put in our current situation. To say that they are trouble would be an understatement of the century."

Despite Juliet's words of warning Hud couldn't help but laugh. "Wow, it seems that everyone but me and Frlea has fought these guys. And by the sounds of it, all of you lost...it just makes me even more excited to face them~."

"That should make you scared!" Lamy quickly corrected as Seilah frowned.

Honestly, despite the members, they had amassed since the start of their little dark guild she had a feeling that it still wouldn't be enough. At least if they were going for the all-out assault. Then again, Seilah's plan was simply to capture the mage known as Mirajane and get the second half of herself back.

"Very well, our next target will be Fairy Tail...but we shall only strike after Lamy has finished constructing the Cube," Seilah stated as Hud let out an irritated pout.

"But that was what we were supposed to do while waiting..." Hud stated as Seilah responded.

"This isn't something to be done on a whim. I would like to have some things done before we strike. A half-hearted effort will lead to a quick defeat, and even someone as powerful as you can't do everything by themselves..." Seilah stated as Hud crossed his arms before letting out another goofy laugh.

"I guess you're right, besides...fighting that blue-haired guy made me realize that humans are a lot tougher than I thought. If these fairy guys really that dangerous then there is no way I can stay at this level." Hud admitted.

"That is a rather level-headed decision...at least for you," Seilah said as Hud just laughed once again.

"Shshshsh! Well, even though a month might as well be an eternity in a situation like this, it does give me time to do somethings I want to do. This is the perfect chance for me to train!"

"Of course, that is the only thing you're thinking about," Juliet stated as Hud just smiled.

"Well, that's not the only thing. If we have a month, then I can take some time and go back home." Hud pointed out as Frlea eyes widened.

"Eh?! You want to go back home?" Frlea asked as Hud nodded.

"Yeah, there are a few things I want to do and monsters I want to see. If we are going to have to wait that long I might as well use that time to see what's going on!" Hud laughed standing up stretching ever so slightly.

Before Frlea could respond the hell's core let out a small beeping noise as the blade in the water began to break down.

"Ah, it looks like the reconstruction process is almost done." Lamy smiled before turning to face the rest of the group. "You guys better get some clothes ready, I think I have an old pair upstairs." Lamy pointed out as Juliet scoffed.

"I don't think...Henie will fit your clothes." Juliet pointed out, a sly smirk slowly appearing on her face.

"W-what is that supposed to mean!" Before Juliet could reply a female figure slowly started to form from the broken up pieces of the black blade.

The woman had short black hair with an average height. The five of them stared at the newly constructed woman, her bare figure completely on display for everyone to see.

"...Her boobs are pretty big." Frlea was the one that broke the silence.

"EHHH! Don't just go and say things like that!" Lamy whined as Hud crossed his arms.

"I don't think they are as big as Seilah's though," Hud added as Lamy frowned.

"S-stop talking and hurry up and get her some clothes!" Lamy whined as Seilah had to add her thoughts as well.

"It's to be expected. A mere blade could never match me after all."

"Not you too Seilah!" Lamy continued. "Please someone get her some clothes! If this continues, people might start thinking I'm into certain things!"

It did not take long for them to get a bed set up for the mysterious woman known as Heine. However, unlike last time, Lamy requested Juliet to dress Heine before they actually spoke to her properly.

Juliet sat next to her friend as the black-haired woman lied almost motionlessly, the only hint that she was alive was the faint breathing coming from her mouth. It didn't take long for the newly created demon to slowly open her eyes sitting up.

"Ah...Juliet?" Those were the first words that came out of the black-haired woman's mouth as Juliet smiled.

"Yep, it took me a long time to find you~" Juliet stated as Heine let out a sigh looking around the room.

"If you're here...then that must mean Lady Irene must have won on hour behalf," Heine stated as Juliet expression changed ever so slightly.

"Well no-" Juliet couldn't finish her statement as she was shoved to the side Hud taking her place.

"Hey, do you want to join my guild?!" Hud stated as Heine's eyes widened.

"Who are you?" Heine asked as Hud opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, he was pushed to the side by Juliet.

"Hud, you idiot, you're going to confuse her. Let a cute and familiar face explain things to her...like me." Juliet pressed her fingers to her cheeks as Heine's eyes twitched.

Seilah sighed at the situation, but that was to be expected. "Frlea, if you could gather, Jerome, Ikaruga, Briar and Fukuro please." The demon asked the plant monster as he shrugged.

"Might as well, I need to check on the garden anyway, plus I don't need to listen to any long-winded explanation." The plant creature slowly walked away.

It didn't take long for the plant monster to gather the rest of demon fang and the situation to be explained to Heine. To say it was a turn of events for her would have been an understatement.

"I think I understand the situation slightly," Heine said examining her clothes before looking towards the other members of demon fang, more specifically Hud who was standing before her.

"So, do you want to be a part of my guild or not?" Hud crossed his arms as Heine looked over to the brown haired friend before letting out a sigh of defeat.

"If Juliet is fine with you, then I shall begrudgingly agree. After all, if you hadn't helped us, we would still be stuck as blades. This is just a small compensation for the action."

"...Ah, you are the type that talks all fancy, like Ikaruga and Seilah." Hud pointed out as he could feel both of the women giving him a glare.

"It's called having a proper vocabulary. Perhaps if you actually read a book, you would be able to use words that were longer than six characters." Seilah stated as Juliet chuckled.

"That's Heine for you. She can never relax no matter what." Juliet shrugged as her black haired friend glared at her.

"You fool, the reason I seem like that is because you are far too comfortable most of the time." Heine's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms.

"Well, anyway, it's nice to meet you, Heine, my name is Monster Hud, but you probably already know that." Hud smiled causing Heine nodded.

"Yes, while I do not know for how long. I look forward to working with you Monster."

 **Author note.**

 **Another in between short chapter to set things up for the next arc. Heine was introduced etc.**

 **Funny enough, some people believe that Heine and Juliet are OCs, but they are actually characters from the series. Really small antagonist that was one-shot my Mirajane. I just liked their personalities and designs enough to use them in this story. The chapter titles where they are introduced are also in reference to their names.**

 **Just a heads up, I'm probably going to be editing old chapters and fixing some of the grammar, etc. for them. The first 5 chapters just got done about an hour ago, so I'll get on the next 5 tomorrow.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

 **So, how are you going to train?**

Lamy took a deep breath as she placed her head against the panel as flashing lights flickered on and off. To say that she had been working for hours straight would have been an understatement. The demon felt like her eyes were about to fall out of her skull.

"It has enough power, but actually preparing for the creation is so annoying." Lamy sighed before leaning back in her chair. "I should really teach one of the others how to do this sort of thing. I won't get any rest at this rate."

It had been a few days since Hud had left for his trip and there was a certain level of calmness without the monster. Something that Lamy actually didn't enjoy, perhaps the energy from before was just missing.

Before Lamy could continue her work, the door of the guild house slowly opened. Lamy groaned as a sharp light pierced her eyes. After a moment she heard a voice that could only be described as annoying.

"Hey Famy, are you in here~" Lamy groaned, the voice belonged to the woman known as Juliet as she and Heine slowly walked inside the two of them flipping on the nearby light switch.

"I am pretty sure that it's unhealthy to stare at screens in the dark." Heine pointed out as Lamy's eye twitched.

"I don't need you to tell me that, and my name is Lamy by the way!" The second half of her statement was directed towards Juliet as the brown haired girl just shrugged as she examined the screen Lamy was working on.

"So, you are going to get this place floating huh? Is it going to be like one of the Alvarez ships?" Juliet asked as Lamy grumbled.

"I don't know what those are, and you two are bothering me!" Lamy snapped before continuing. "I thought once you got your girlfriend back you'd stop bothering me, but it looks like I was wrong." Lamy let a sly smile creep on her face as Heine's eye twitched.

"Don't even make an idiotic statement like that!" Heine yelled as Juliet chuckled.

"Yeah, even if I was into girls I am pretty sure I would be able to find a prettier one than Heine."

Heine just glared at her friend before the former Alvarez soldier finally changed the subject. "Regardless, we are here on the request of Seilah. She apparently wants us to meet with her."

"W-what?" Lamy stuttered a shiver running down her spine. "What could she want with someone like me?"

"Geez, if we knew that we probably would have told you by now..." Juliet pointed out before puffing up her cheeks. "Now, are you coming with us Pamy or do we have to tell Seilah you were too busy for her."

Lamy grumbled, "f-fine, and like I said the name is Lamy!"

Lamy slowly lifted herself from her seat, a part of her wondered if her back was going to break from sitting down for so long. As the three women slowly left the guild house, Lamy couldn't help but notice the lack of activity around the grounds.

"Huh, where is everyone else?" Lamy asked as Juliet shrugged.

"I think the humans went off to do something, and I really don't know where Frlea is," Juliet stated as Lamy pressed her finger to her lips.

She was curious why Frlea decided against going with Hud. He was going to their hometown after all, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for them to visit family.

Lamy remained silent as Juliet and Heine led her to what appeared to be a dark forest. There was still enough light to see, but there was something undoubtedly creepy about the whole thing. Despite that, the woods felt oddly comforting, like it was a safe area despite the gloomy atmosphere.

It didn't take long for the three of them to reach a clearing. On a random rock sat Seilah reading one of her many books. Lamy slumped her shoulders, was it really necessary for her too read a book in a dark forest?

"Oh, you finally arrived." Seilah closed her book as Juliet puffed up her cheeks ever so slightly.

"Couldn't you have just ordered Jamy to come here yourself? Asking Heine and me to do it was just mean."

"That was simply because I was busy, however now that the four of us are here we can finally get started." Seilah stood up as Lamy shivered ever so slightly.

"This isn't going to be a creepy sex thing is it?" Lamy recalled Seilah's old nightly 'training' with Kyouka, and that wasn't something she wanted to be a part of.

"No, but if you keep speaking so carelessly, I will make you wish for such a fate," Seilah stated as Lamy quickly shut her mouth as Seilah continued. "Now to get to the point, it goes without saying the four of us are demons."

"Yes, well at least at this point..." Heine replied looking at her arms and legs. It was something she needed to get used to considering she used to be just a familiar brought to life by the will of a mage, having a truly physical body was still somewhat strange to her.

"If that is the case then there should be aspects of your bodies that have yet to be used, which is understandable for the two of you." Seilah's eyes wandered to Juliet and Heine before she turned her attention to Lamy. "However not for you..."

"W-what is that supposed to mean?" Lamy stuttered as Seilah sighed.

"You are a demon, yet you do not have an etherious form. While that is normal for someone who just discovered their demonic attributes, it is not for someone who has been a demon for as long as you."

Lamy groaned, the fact that Seilah was bringing up her lack of combat ability was the worst. "Y-you don't have to say that out loud...did you just say that to make fun of me?" Lamy frowned as the Seilah pressed her finger to her forehead clearly frustrated over Lamy's reaction.

"Tell me, Lamy, are you honestly satisfied with your current position?" Seilah words were blunt as Lamy froze for a moment.

"That's..." Lamy knew she was easily the weakest member of Demon Fang, that much was obvious. Even a creature like Frlea had more utility than her when it came to combat.

"I am not saying that you need to get stronger, but Monster set a certain example for us. So as demons we should not fall behind..."

"Seilah...what's this about." This time it was Juliet that spoke as the former Demon-Gate member closed her eyes.

"Before Monster left we had a conversation about what he is going to be doing while he was away."Seilah closed her eyes before continuing her statement. "Apparently he is going to bring a few monsters here to help us."

"Isn't that a good thing? I mean considering how powerful Monster is he probably has some strong acquaintances." Heine pointed out as Seilah's eyes narrowed.

"That is exactly the issue, Monster's mindset is that of growth before all else. If this is Demon Fang, then it is only natural that we take our guildmaster mindset to heart and use it to grow ourselves."

Growth...something that Seilah had admittedly chosen to ignore. As far as she used to be concerned, demons were already perfect, but to say that notion had been challenged multiple times would have been an understatement. The world was far bigger than the events that had happened in Fiore, and there were things far more terrifying than even dragons.

"That sounds like a bunch of fancy words to say that you want us to train," Juliet stated bluntly.

"That it was," Seilah admitted before continuing. "Though, my main interest is pulling something out of you, at least attempt to do so..."

"Is it the etherious form?" Lamy frowned as Seilah nodded.

"Yes, but that much should have been obvious. "Seilah pointed out as Heine crossed her arms.

"If I may ask, do you have any idea how to achieve that state? I know you can use it, but..."

Seilah remained silent before the horned demon placed her hands on her hips letting out a small sigh. "Not at all."

"Eh, don't say that so calmly!" Lamy cried.

"I am simply being truthful. Since we were creations of lord Zeref, I was created with that form. I do not know the exact steps that it would take to achieve it or if it is even possible."

"So we don't even know if it's going to be worth it in the end..." Juliet sighed.

"Look at it this way, perhaps following our guildmaster example and simply...how do I put it, 'throwing things at a wall until they stick,' may bear some fruit."

* * *

"Bored~" Frlea whined as he pressed his head against Fukuro's shoulder.

"If you truly felt that way you didn't need to come, Ikaruga simply asked all the humans to show up." The owl man stated as the dark-skinned woman sitting next to him eyes narrowed.

"I'm still not sure if you are human or not," Briar stated bluntly as Jerome stood next to her looking at the field of vegetables and fruits that Frlea and Ikaruga had planted.

"So, did you and Ikaruga plant all of this?" Jerome asked as Frlea sighed.

"Of course, though the only thing Ikaruga did was decide what fruit would be mixed with what. I actually did the cultivating and growing." Frlea reminded as he looked around for the pink haired swordsmen. "Speaking of her, where is she?" Frlea stated, and almost as if the world was about to answer his question Ikaruga appeared before the four examining each of them.

"I am quite pleased that everyone arrived on time, though I am positive that I asked for the human members..." Ikaruga's eyes wandered to Frlea as the plant creature grumbled.

"If you don't want me here you could just say it..."

"No it's not that, rather I am more interested in why you decided to stay here and not go with Monster." Ikaruga got straight to the point as Frlea crossed his arms or rather the vines he called arms.

"Probably the same reason you called everyone here..." The plant monster words caused Briar to speak up.

"What would that reason be?"

Ikaruga paused before turning her attention back to the plant monster. "Frlea, that creature we encountered...that Country Destroyer, do you know any more about them, or rather that term?"

The plant monster eyes widened before letting out a scoff. "It doesn't matter if I tell you, no amount of information will let you kill one, so it's pointless even to try."

"I still wish to know..." Ikaruga insisted as Frlea frowned.

"Geez, Hud is right, humans sure like doing pointless things." Frlea took a deep breath despite not having lungs. "Country Destroyers are just that. They destroy countries. There is one for each country on Earthland. Though they are called destroyers, they also kind of function as protectors in a way."

"Protectors? That thing we fought didn't seem to be any kind of protector." Jerome pointed out as Frlea pouted ever so slightly.

"Stop interrupting me, and I'll get to that point!" Frlea snapped before clearing his throat. "As I was saying, Country Destroyers are supposed to protect the country they are assigned to from potential destruction. Well, until they themselves are supposed to destroy it."

"Isn't that...a contradiction?" Briar pointed out, after all, why would a creature go out of their way to defend something if they were just going to destroy it later.

"That's the thing before creation has to come destruction." Despite Frlea's small stature, his words carried an unsettling weight to them. "While most Country Destroyers enjoy destruction it is also a natural part of the world. For new countries to be created old ones must be wiped clean, when a human nation or country grows in power they become a threat to monster kind as well as demons and other humans, so the country is marked for destruction."

Ikaruga raised her eyebrows ever so slightly. "Hmm, you monsters seem more organized than I first thought. I took you as simple brutes, but it seems that you have your own defenses against humans."

Frlea scoffed at the comment. "Yeah, not only that, but there are rumored to be some Country Destroyers even stronger than the Great Black Dragon."

"Y-you mean there are creatures stronger than Acnologia?" Briar stated, just knowing that fact struck fear in the four humans heart as Frlea face twisted to a smile.

"See, I told you it was pointless to know. The fact we escaped one was a complete fluke since that was only a part of her body. Even then she was one of the weaker ones, if a Country Destroyer marks a country then it is already considered destroyed the act of wiping it out is just a formality."

Ikaruga frowned, truthfully a part of her wished she didn't find that out. There was a certain underlying dread that came with knowing that there was a creature that could destroy everything on a whim. Not out of any sense of power or pride, but simply because destruction was necessary.

"Thank you for telling us, I still have a few questions, but they are mostly for Monster and not for you." Ikaruga was blunt as Frlea eyes twitched.

"What do you want to talk to Hud about?"

"Do not worry about it, besides I personally think this can be used as good motivation to grow in strength," Ikaruga stated as Jerome let out a sigh.

"So, the reason you called us here was for training."

"Yes, after what happened back in that beast it is apparent that our current strength is inefficient. If we are truly serious about even attempting to battle Fairy Tail, then we need far more strength than we currently have. That isn't even mentioning the potential of running into another Country Destroyer."

"Didn't I tell you it is pointless! No amount of training will ever close the gap, especially not mere humans or demons." Frlea pointed out as Fukuro lifted the plant creature from off of his shoulders before placing him on the ground.

"While I never encountered a beast of that magnitude personally, such a task should be simple for a hero of justice!"

"I...don't think that has anything to do with it." Jerome sighed at the owl-man's comment before continuing. "I really would rather not fight another one of those...things, but getting stronger to battle 'that' guild seems to be smart idea."

Briar paused before letting. "I have my own goals, but that is something I'll talk to the guildmaster once we plan our assault on the faeries. For the time being, I'll improve myself as well.

Frlea just mumbled something under his breath before crossing his arms. "Humans always like doing pointless things, fine you guys can train as long as you want..." Frlea started to walk away as Ikaruga turned her attention to the plant monster.

"You are welcome to train with us if you need to." Ikaruga was surprisingly open which caused Frlea to grumble even louder.

"No way, I haven't trained in over 15 years, Hud usually handles the really hard stuff. However, if I am going to train then I'm going to do it by myself...that's if I do it."

There was a moment of silence as the four humans just examined Frlea before Jerome said what was on everyone's mind.

"Wait, how old are you?"

"Shut up!" Frlea quickly snapped before turning his head. "I'm going to be training by myself. Just get me when you are ready to sell the fruit Ikaruga." With those words, Frlea wandered into the nearby brush causing Briar to sigh.

"He's been grumpy ever since Hud left. If he was going to act like this, he should have gone with him."

"True, but the fact he chose to stay behind most likely means that he was planning on training from the start," Ikaruga added. "Truthfully he probably doesn't want to disappoint Monster."

* * *

Hud rubbed his eyes as he peeked over the steep cliff. He took a deep breath before staring out into the ocean. Out in the distance was a large mountain like structure with the top that seemed to have the top torn off.

"Ah, man it really has been awhile." Hud laughed setting down the now empty sack to his side. "I wonder if those two are still there..." Hud crossed his arms grinning to himself.

"Man, just thinking about it makes me excited!" Without even a hint of hesitation, the monster jumped from the cliff-side landing into the sea below. After a few moments, the waves started to part as the monster made his way towards the large mountain.

 **Author note**

 **I am weighing if I should skip Hud's hometown or not. While I do have a couple of ideas for it, I feel like I've dragged on the meeting with Fairy Tail long enough, but on the other hand I feel like the 2 characters that will be introduced should have at least have a basic introduction besides just showing up next to Hud when he comes back.**

 **Also, I wrote some short conversations between characters that probably won't show up in the story...mostly because they are dead. But it was still a nice side thing to do.**

 **Hud: "Huh, you are acting kind of tough, but you don't seem that strong at all...are you sure you want to do this?"**

 **Zancrow: "D-damn it, what's this feeling? Even though I can't sense any magic coming from him, it feels like the moment I move I'll die...is this guy really a mage? Is he even human?!"**

* * *

 **Hud: "Ah, you're that dark mage right? You know no one has anything good to say about you, but if it wasn't for you Lamy and Seilah wouldn't have been born, so thank you!"**

 **Zeref: "...Acting like that, if that is all you have to say let's part ways here, I dislike feeling any more guilt than I must."**

* * *

 **Hud: "So...the strongest demon in the entire world. I always wanted to fight you!"**

 **Bloodman: "To fight me is to fight death itself! No matter if you are human or monster, the conclusion to this battle has long since been decided!"**

* * *

 **Hud: "You're that jerk that blew up the old Lamy. I'll beat you up right quick so you won't do anything like that again!"**

 **Jackal: "Bastard! My curse isn't working on him at all...what the hell is he?!"**

* * *

 **Hud: "Hey, you're Kyouka right! Seilah always has nice things to say about you. Even so, I won't hold back...though Seilah might get angry with me."**

 **Kyouka: "What an...odd creature, it appears my curse has no effect. How boring, but if you know Seilah then you have my attention. After all, she wouldn't follow a weakling."**

* * *

 **Frlea: "Gah, gross, gross, gross! Of course something as ugly as you would be a demon. I don't care if you were one of Seilah's allies, I'll kill so I never have to look at your face ever again!"**

 **Yakdoriga: "W-wait, doing that...we've barely, and you want to kill me?!"**

* * *

 **Hud: "Hurry up, Transform! Even if you are the great demon king, you will never be able to beat me like that!"**

 **Mard Geer: "Arrogant brat...but this feeling, my curse has no effect, even Memento Mori. To think I would be pushed this far by someone who can't even use Ethernano.**

* * *

 **Mard Geer Tartaros: "Well, my apologies for keeping you waiting, I have transformed as requested."**

 **Hud: "Yeah, let's finish this..."**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

 **I thought I was better at recruiting people...**

With a sudden splash large torrent of water erupted from the center of the as a black-haired monster jumped from the sea and onto one of the many nearby stones littered the large lake that made up the center of the village.

"I'm home!" Hud called out taking a deep breath as he wiped the salt water off of his body. He normally wasn't used to making such an extravagant entrance, but after being away for two years, he couldn't help but let his excitement show.

A few monsters wandered out of their homes to see what the commotion was about as Hud waved to each and every one of them. The moment they saw who it was a mixture of laughter and irritated sighs filled the lower sections of the town.

Hud wasn't really expecting a warm welcome, after all, he had only been gone for two years. For monsters, such a small amount of time could only be considered a long vacation.

"Oy, idiot, don't splash in the water like that!" Before Hud could make his way back to land, he heard an oddly familiar voice as he looked down towards the lack to see a green haired and blue-skinned girl poking her head out of the water.

"Eh? Is that you Reiny?"Hud smiled pointing at the monster girl as her eye twitched.

"Eh? Hud you're back?" The sea monster titled her head, in an instant she cleared the distance between her and Hud pressing her arms against the rock scanning him. "Oh, so you're done your little trip?" The monster slowly dragged the rest of her body out of the water revealing the rest of her form.

She was quite a bit shorter than Hud. Large blue flippers jetted out from where her ears as well as her hips. As for her attire, it seemed like it was an odd modified one-piece swimsuit with leggings.

"Not exactly, I'm just making a quick stop." Hud pointed out as Reiny scanned Hud, or rather specifically his shoulders.

"You don't seem to have Frlea with you...please tell me he died." The fish girl frowned as Hud just laughed at the comment.

"Nah, he's back at the guild house."

"The guild what?" Reiny tiled her head as Hud simply crossed his arms. A part of him forgot that a lot had happened since he was last in the village and explaining it all would have been bothersome.

"Ah, never mind that, do you know if Bar is around?" Hud got straight to the point causing Reiny to pout.

"That's what this is about. You just want to punch things huh? Well, Bar is living on the second floor of the village right now. So I can take you to him right quick if you want." With that Reiny jumped back into the water as Hud followed her, after a short moment of swimming the managed to reach land.

The village of Velt was an interesting one, at least compared to some human towns. Due to it being built inside a large volcano-like structure the village was that of a giant building instead of a normal town. With ladders and large elevators being used to take monsters to the higher floors.

Both Reiny and Hud walked to one of the many ladders as the slowly started talking. "Hey, do you know anything about the guild Fairy Tail?" Hud words got straight to the point as Reiny quickly looked over towards him.

"Ah, those humans? I heard about them. I order Sorcerer Weekly." Reiny flipped her hair as Hud tilted his head.

"What's that?"

"It's a magazine, you idiot! About magic or whatever, I really don't care much for all the boring human and magic talk. I really just like looking at the fashion." Reiny let out an almost wistful sigh. "Why can't monster fashion be as interesting as humans?"

Hud just looked at his fish like before just shrugging. "You would be into something as pointless as that huh?"

"It's not worthless. It's called trying to look good!" Reiny snapped as Hud just laughed at her anger.

"Well, to get back to something that's actually important. Do you have anything interesting to say about Fairy Tail?" Hud went back to the relevant question as Reiny's eyes narrowed.

"Well, besides the fact they have like...forty members or something. They also apparently helped stop a war or something, listen, as I said, I don't really read the magazine much." Reiny stated before sighing. "By the way, why do you care what a group of humans do? It's not like you to give so much thought to something like this."

"It's nothing, at least nothing you have to worry about." Hud laughed as the two made their way up the wooden elevator before stopping at a large cavern in the wall.

"Huh? Velt still doesn't have a house?" Hud tilted his head as Reiny shrugged before letting out a sigh.

"That's just how he is, the guy rather just live in a cave than worry about a house. You're the same way aren't you?" Reiny closed one of her eyes as Hud scratched the back of his head.

"I guess...either way we're going to be seeing him," Hud stated as the two walked into the nicely decorated cave entrance. As they walked into the cave, the lines were aligned with different weapons all of which were made of bone and steel.

At the end was a single platform with what appeared to be a bed, a monster was lying on it ever so careful.

It was large, to say the least, it was covered in silver fur with long hair streaking down its back. The monster shifted as its long wolf-like ears twitched before sitting up, he sniffed the air ever so slightly before rubbing its eyes.

Despite looking like a wolf, the creature stood up on its hind legs, its yellow eyes focusing on Reiny and Hud.

"Eh? Hud you're back?" The wolf creature yawned before tightening the sash around his waist. "So do you want to fight or something?"

"You moron! Hud has been gone for two years, and you're greeting him like you just saw him yesterday!" Reiny snapped, even though her greeting wasn't that far off from the wolf's.

"Hey Velt, glad you see you're still around." Hud laughed as Velt dug one of his nails into his ear before letting out another yawn. The wolf monster then cracked his neck kicking off his bed and jumping into the air before landing in front of the two.

"Where is that annoying plant that's always with you?" Velt asked plainly.

"Frlea is off somewhere...actually that's what I'm here about." Hud quickly changed the subject as the wolf monster raised one of his eyebrows.

"Did he get kidnapped or something?" The wolf monster asked as Hud just laughed.

"Yeah, he does get into those situations a lot, but it's not that. I was actually here to ask you if you could help me with something."

"Hmm? Are you looking for a blade or something?" Velt asked as Hud shook his head.

"No, nothing like that, I was actually hoping that you would help me in a fight." The moment Hud said those words Velt's eyes widened before he let out a laugh.

"Monster Hud needing help in a fight? Now that's something. Usually, you're the type of guy that would rather die than get help from anyone in that sort of situation." The wolf monster pointed out as Hud let out an almost defeated sigh.

"Yeah, normally, but this time I'm doing it as a favor. Depending on how strong the guys we are fighting I might challenge them again with no strings attached." Hud pointed out lifting his fist as Reiny's eyes narrowed.

She couldn't care less about trivial things like fighting, that was something that meatheads like Velt and Hud indulged in. However, the statement about a favor caught the water monster's fancy.

"A favor for who?" Reiny's red eyes narrowed as Hud tilted his head. For some reason, he felt like that was the most serious question he could answer at the moment.

"Ah, for a demon lady I met. I don't think you've met her." Hud stated as Reiny's cheeks puffed out ever so slightly.

"A demon? Gross, don't tell me you fell for her or something." Reiny added as Hud just tilted his head looking genuinely confused by the comment.

"I don't think I fell on top of her if that's what you're asking." Hud laughed completely missing the point as Velt cleared his throat trying his best to steer the conversation.

"That's well and good, but who are we fighting? It must be someone strong if you are considering asking me for help." Velt stated as Hud's normally docile expression turned rather sharp, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly.

"Well, I don't know much about them, but we are apparently fighting a guild called Fairy Tail. I can't really tell you how strong they are, but apparently, they have beaten almost everyone in the guild I made." Hud pointed out as Reiny's eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Huh? You made a guild? Why did you make something dumb like that?" Reiny asked as Hud shrugged.

"It seemed like a good way to meet a lot of strong people, and it worked! I've met a tone of powerful humans and demons while I was making it. But, that really doesn't matter, I just want to know if you are coming with me Velt!" Hud grinned as Velt's eyes twitched looking down at the pale monster.

"Geez, can't say no when you are that forward...fine I'll help out," Velt stated as Hud held his stomach and let out a loud laugh.

"Great, now I just need to get one more monster..." Hud stated as Reiny let out an annoyed grumble.

"Oh fine, I'll help out too, you don't even need to ask me." Reiny let out a smug smirk as Hud looked blankly at his fishy friend.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"No need to play dumb, you were going to ask me to go with you. So it's only natural that I lift that burden from you and agree before you can even state that question!"

Hud just continued to look at Reiny for a few moments before speaking. "Gosh, I wasn't going to ask that at all, but if you want to come with us, it's fine as long as you don't get in the way." Hud's almost childish tone felt like an arrow through Reiny's heart. The fact he wasn't even being harsh, but just blunt made it all the worse.

"If she isn't the second monster then who is?" Velt added ignoring Reiny's grumbling.

"That's the thing. I'm going to ask Bas for help." The moment Hud said that name both Velt's and Reiny's expressions changed. One of both horror and of shock.

"W-what no way! You can't ask a dangerous guy like that. You barely was able to beat him last time!" Reiny whined as Velt remained completely silent waiting for Hud's response.

"I've gotten a lot stronger since last time, and I did way more than just train. If he becomes I problem, I'll just have to fight him, besides I think he'll be interested in this." Hud smirked ever so slightly as his eyes refocused on Velt. "I was actually hoping he would be around here, but that might have been too good to be true."

"D-don't be stupid. He would try to kill of us all if he was here!" Reiny insisted as Velt crossed his arms closing his eyes.

"Hud, are you sure about this? Are this...faeries really that powerful you need Bas' help?" Velt asked as Hud crossed his arms pouting ever so slightly.

"As I said, I don't know how strong they are exactly, but I wouldn't be here if I wasn't at least a little concerned."

Velt closed his eyes before walking towards his wall pulling done a large cleaver-like blade along with a shorter sword and a club. "If that is the case then I can tell you where you can find him...or at least the general area he may be in," Velt added as Hud smiled.

"Thanks, we should leave right away!" Hud said.

"W-wait, don't you want to visit your mom and your sister while you're here?" Reiny pointed out as Hud slumped his shoulders.

"Eh? Wouldn't that be pointless though? Besides the longer, we wait here the more likely Bas will move, and we'll lose the chance to talk to him." Hud stated as Reiny frowned before her eyes widened remembering something.

"Thinking about it, you wouldn't be able to see her anyway. She went on vacation a couple of months ago." Reiny pointed out as Hud tilted his head.

"Hmm, my mom went on vacation? Did she tell you where she was going?"

"Nope, but considering you weren't going to visit her in the first place, I don't think it matters." Reiny eyes narrowed as Hud just shrugged letting out a goofy smile.

"That's just how I am, now...Velt, you know where Bas is right?" Hud turned his attention to more pressing matters as Velt crossed his arms.

"You see...apparently he's..."

* * *

With the sound of splitting air, another Grimoire Heart member was broken in two. The teen no taller than 5'5 smiled as the remaining members slowly backed away, a pile of corpses slowly starting to build around him.

"It seems that magic has made you humans far... squishier." The pale boy laughed as his hair shifted ever so slightly. The boy facing down the dark mages almost looked human.

However his skin was a pale grey, and instead of hair on his head, there were long tendrils similar to that of snake tails. His attire was also odd, it being a red and black bodysuit with pieces of armor scattered on it.

Honestly, in any normal situation the person standing before them wouldn't have been intimidating at all, but consider the number of bodies he had already racked up...

"A-ah Lord Rustyrose, do something!" One of the lower ranking members cried as the Grimoire heart member grumbled looking at his opponent.

"D-damn it all. I can't even feel his magic. We shouldn't be having trouble with someone like him."

"Yes, please do something, and I don't mean summoning that toy you sent after me." The pale boy grinned as he took a step forward before looking around the surrounding area.

The buildings were dilapidated, and it was apparent that no one had lived in the town for quite some time. "You know, I was wondering why this city was marked for destruction. I thought it was just a stupid clean up request, but having a bunch of worthless trash like you around...it becomes a lot more obvious."

Rustyrose eye twitched the moment he heard that comment as he snickered. Perhaps it was his false courage overtaking him, or maybe it was his anger that some nobody could look down upon him.

"I don't know what your magic is, or who you are! But do you honestly think that I'll let you insult Neo Grimoire Heart like that?!"

The pale teen just scoffed at the comment. "Grimoire heart, the worthless guild that worshiped that dog Zeref?" The red-eyed boy smiled widened ever so slightly. "You do realize that piece of trash was killed right? So much for the 'immortal' mage huh?"

"T...that's a lie. Lord Zeref would never be killed." Rustyrose eye twitched. "The world, where magic users reign supreme, where no lowly non-magic users exist. That is still within my grasp!"

"...No non-magic users huh? Then why don't you show me that power that will create that world." The teen stated bluntly as Rustyrose grinned, his eyes widening ever so slightly.

"Very well, then let me show you something truly amazing. The silver-haired man lifted both of his hands a large glyph appearing on the ground as the remaining members of Grimoire began backing away.

"L-lord Rustyrose, if you use that here..." Their pleas fell on deaf ears however as the silver-haired man laughed as the dirt beneath crumbled as a large tower slowly sprouted from the ground erupting like spear.

The tower slowly rose as the teen just looked at the event with indifference. The large structure towered above any other building in the city as the other members of Grimoire heart slowly started to get dragged towards the center as if some invisible force was pulling them.

"Gahaha! How do you like that?! Be crushed and thrown into the wind under my strength."

The teen just looked at the tower, seemingly unaffected by the strange gravity before walking towards it. He walked straight to the base of the heavenly pillar looking at the struggling members before scoffing. He slowly lowered his hand digging his finger into the dirt underneath the tower.

Then in a single motion he lifted it, there was no struggle, no resistance, he lifted it as if he was lifting a bag of feathers holding the entire building size tower over his head with a single hand.

The laughter, the grin that Rustyrose was showing before vanished, in place of it was a fear that he couldn't even describe.

"I do hope this isn't your best, because there is no way you'll ever change the world like this." The grey teen laughed as his eyes widened. Then as if he was throwing a garbage bag he tossed the large tower into the distance, the sheer force of the throw blowing away almost every other Grimoire, heart member like they were dust.

As the tower vanished into the distance, a large explosion was heard as Rustyrose stood there, his body completely unable to move.

"Hey, what's wrong? What happened to all that confidence from before? It's amazing how quickly you lot lose it when everything fails."

"D-damn i-" Rustyrose moved his arms preparing for another attack, but before he could do anything he felt something sharp pierce him. His body shivered as he looked down to see two thick tendrils sticking out of his chest.

The Grimoire member coughed up blood as he placed his hands on the two snake-like appendages as the teen slowly walked towards him. His hair twitching as it dug deeper into mages chest.

"Don't bother. This is getting embarrassing." The teen sighed before ripping his hair out of his target causing Rustyrose to collapse to the ground.

"T-this is..." Rustyrose coughed his nails digging into the ground as the teen stood over him.

"Y-you, what is your magic?" Rustyrose coughed as the teen smiled, no he grinned.

"Let me tell you a secret before you die...I don't use magic. I don't even use that worthless thing you call ethernano."

The moment he said whatever will Rustyrose had to cling to life nearly faded. "W-what that's n-"

Before Rustyrose could finish the teen placed his boot onto the silver-haired man's head. "Huh? Impossible? Isn't that something you humans and demons have trouble with? Worshiping garbage like Zeref as if they are gods." The teen then sighed.

"Then again, you humans always struggle with this. Not realizing, that no matter how much you try, how much you train there are just going to be things that are always stronger than you. A wall that no amount of effort will let you overcome." The teen lifted his head before laughing.

"You can die now. I've had enough fun for the day." The teen slowly walked away to from his fallen foe as Rustyrose continued to cough.

"He'll be dead soon enough...now before I wipe this place off the map, I should eat something first." The teen grumbled before haphazardly picking up one of the many corpses he had created dragging it somewhere, leaving Rustyrose to die alone.

* * *

Night slowly fell as the teen grumbled as the arm he had put in the fire was slowly cooking as he devoured another.

"Human flesh is probably the most disgusting thing I have the misfortune of eating." He grumbled as he took another bite of the arm he was holding tearing off a finger. "Even cooking it doesn't make it tas-"

At that moment the teen's eyes widened as he sat up. "This feeling..." He frowned as he slowly turned around to see someone he hated.

"Hey, Bas!" The teen eye twitched as he was met with the most annoying smiling face.

"Monster Hud..." There was a certain venom in Bas' voice as he spoke that name as Hud let out a goofy laugh.

"Yep, that's me!" Hud replied as if completely unaware of where the two stood as Bas' eye twitched.

"I see, so you came here to fight? That's fine by me. I was just thinking about how much I wanted to kill you!" Bas' eyes widened as he threw the arm to the flow before lowering his stance preparing for a fight. Hud on the other hand simply continued to stare at the grey-skinned monster.

"Normally I would be really excited about something like that, but actually I'm not here for a fight." Hud pointed out as Bas bit his bottom lip.

"Then what the hell do you want?"

"I was actually wondering if you could help me with something..." Hud was upfront about his request as Bas looked at the monster before bursting out into laughter.

"Is this some kind of sick joke? Why would I ever help you? Even ignoring that, what kind of threat would a city destroyer need help with?" Bas' hair twitched as if they were snakes as Hud crossed his arms and closed his eyes as if thinking up a good response.

"I actually want you to help me fight a human guild."

"...Are you making fun of me?" Bas' voice was cold, almost scary. "Or have you gotten so soft that some worthless humans are giving you trouble."

Hud didn't respond right away before shrugging. "Well, the only thing I can tell you is that the humans we are going to be fighting are apart of Fairy Tail."

The moment Hud brought up that name Bas' eyes widened before smiling. "That guild, the one that killed the Great Black Dragon."

"Ah, what they did that?!" Hud seemed surprised as Bas grumbled.

"Fool, do you not pay any attention to the world around you? Whatever, if we are truly facing them then I'll help, just this once."

Hud was honestly shocked at how simple it was to convince Bas to help. All he had to do was mention Fairy Tail, and suddenly he was interested. "Do you know them personally or something?" Them, of course, was referring to the enemy guild they were going up against.

"No, but I want to see the strength of the guild that killed Acnologia. I want to know if that dragon's strength was real or he was just a piece of garbage that others have inflated over the years." Bas' eyes darkened before Hud snapped his fingers.

"Ah, that's right you serpents have a long-lasting rivalry with the dragons." Hud pointed out as Bas scoffed.

"Had, they are all dead now, like the garbage they are. So if I can't fight a dragon, I might as well fight the ones who slew one."

It was that simple solution to such a problem that showed Bas' monster side as Hud smiled.

"Alright, let's g-"

"Wait...there is one more thing I have to tell you." Bas' eyes darkened once again before continuing. "Once we are done with that guild, I'm going to kill you Monster Hud."

There wasn't a single hint of playfulness in Bas' voice as Hud just chuckled.

"Gosh, if you didn't try then our fights would be boring right?" Hud response was as simple as Bas scoffed.

"Never taking anything seriously. Fine, let's hurry up and get this over with..."

 **Author Note**

 **A lot of hard choices were made this chapter. Like originally this was supposed to be split into two chapters. Originally Reiny and Velt was also supposed to speak with Bas along with Hud. Hell, the short fight with Bas and Rustyrose was something I added last minute. Originally you were only supposed to see the aftermath with Bas eating some of their bodies.**

 **I usually dislike writing fight scenes like the one with Bas and Rustyrose, but I felt like it was the best way to get across Bas' character along with trying to have a bit more bite for my general action. Writing a character dying is a touchy subject even a villain since it means they can never be used ever again.**

 **Bas design was kind of supposed to be a bit dorky looking, taking Acnologia's look and just inverting it. While the characters have no relation, I think making a 5'5 foot character intimating is kind of fun, since he is technically as strong or even a bit stronger than Hud. The idea for living snake like hair is more to avoid just having him be a human character with some odd features, if I am designing a monster/demon they should be visually distinct from a human even in small ways.**

 **Reiny design was based on me wanting an aquatic character that wasn't a deep one or a mermaid. So I went with something closer to something crossed with a Siren and Sea angel. (Originally her head was supposed to have an antenna, but felt it was a bit too weird and not cute) I made her to be the type of girl that tries her best to act elegant, but whines and cries when she doesn't get her way and doesn't get a long with other girls at all, and took some cues from Juvia. (I actually made it so those two characters would never) and even has a transformation that makes her stronger but would rather die than using it since it makes her ugly.**

 **Velt is interesting since he was the most fun for me to design, but his personality is really only a slightly more toned down Hud's. Maybe a bit more serious. A wolf man that used a bunch of weapons, it was strange since I originally wanted to have monsters avoid using weapons. But having one or two wield them might be interesting.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

 **Demon Fang Gathers! The Cube Finally Takes OFF!**

"Ah...Hud said he would be back by now, everything is ready, but I can't start unless everyone is here~" Lamy whined as she placed her head against the control panel, her long hair was covering the few visible buttons as the hell's core in the center of the guild hall slowly bubbled.

She wasn't the only one waiting. Every single member of Demon Fang had gathered in their newly constructed guild house. A month had passed after all, and now was the time of action, at least that is what most of them assumed...

"To be fair, Hud simply said that he would be back around a months time, we simply assumed that it would be exactly one month." Fukuro pointed out as he sat in one of the many chairs scattered about causing Juliet to let out a deep sigh.

"It'd be pretty lame if we did all that training just to wait around for a few days. Doesn't Hud realize how awful it is to be late?" The brown haired demon sighed as Jerome bit his lip.

"Maybe he just completely forgot..." The former Avatar member was partly hoping for that outcome as Seilah finally spoke.

"Hud may be foolish, but if I know, one thing is that he wouldn't miss this event for the world. He'll be here..." Perhaps it was because she was one of the founding members of their so-called dark guild, but the trust she displayed for her guild master was absolute.

"Yeah, even if Hud doesn't care about most things fighting is the thing he loves more than anything else int he world! If these faeries really are all that he should be here any minute!" Frlea waved the vines he called arms, and as if his words were an omen the doors to the guild house flew open.

"Hey, guys!" A voice echoed through the building as Hud casually walked in, the moment he did Frlea cheered as he quickly ran up to his friend jumping on his shoulders.

"Hud! You moron! What took you so long?!" Frlea cried as he pressed his face against Hud's shoulders.

"Hey Frlea, you seem to be doing well...you even got a flower in your head now!" Hud laughed as Frlea grumbled.

"I-it's not like I missed you or anything like that..." Frlea stated as Hud looked around making sure every single member of demon fang was indeed there.

"Everyone's here, that's good. I was worried that some of you would chicken out." Hud laughed as his gaze slowly shifted to Briar and Jerome.

"Eh?! Why are you looking at us!" Briar snapped as she brushed her hair to the side. The wound had completely healed besides a small scar as Ikaruga cleared her voice returning to the more pressing matter.

"I assume you didn't return empty handed...you made the trip to get more allies after all." The pink-haired swordswomen pointed out as Hud quickly nodded as he stepped away from the door as two creatures walked in.

"Hmm, this seems about right for Hud..." Velt stated as he walked inside, next to him was a pouting blue-skinned girl.

"Blegh, the colors are so drab, and no one here is wearing anything cute I can steal." Reiny groaned as her eyes met with Frlea, the small plant creature slowly turning his head in disgust.

"Velt I get, but did you really need to bring the fish witch along too?" Frlea was blunt as Reiny eye twitched as she stuck her finger between Frlea's eyes.

"Listen here you little shit. You better be glad I'm tagging along. I might actually be able to shine some fashion in your poor ugly life."

As the water and plant monster bickered, Hud couldn't help but laugh as he turned to face Seilah. "Thanks a lot for looking after everyone while I was gone. Though you do a better job at that than me even when I'm here!" Hud smiled as Seilah sighed.

"There is no need to thank me. I am merely doing what a guild member of demon fang should do. Besides, it is in my best interest to make sure everyone is in their best condition considering what we are going to do next."

As Seilah finished her statement Reiny gaze shifted to the demon as the sea angel rubbed her chin. Without so much as a warning, the water monster walked up to the former demon gate examining her as if she was looking at some kind of strange statue.

"Well...I can see why Hud could take an interest in you, but you still aren't as beautiful as me!" Reiny wagged her finger as Seilah gazed down at the shorter creature.

"...Monster, are you sure someone like her is worth bringing along?" Seilah barely even acknowledged Reiny as the blue-skinned monster eye twitched, but before she could reply Hud cut her off.

"Yeah, she might not look like much, but Sea Angels have a lot of weird techniques that can catch people off guard. Plus she really wanted to come!" Hud pointed out as Reiny eyes narrowed.

"Saying it like that makes me sound like a tag-along!" Reiny whined.

"Regardless, if that is everyone..." Heine started speaking as Hud quickly shook his head.

"Wait, there is still one more g-" Hud was cut off as the door to the guild hall opened once again. Everyone slowly turned to face a rather short teen with gray skin.

The short monster crossed his arms quickly scanning his surroundings before letting out a scoff. "When you said you made a guild, I thought you might have some worthy fighters with you, but it seems like all you managed to find was the discards of some garbage." He smirked before turning his attention to both Lamy and Seilah.

"What's this? Some of Zeref's dolls? I thought all of his toys were supposed to be destroyed when he died..." The strange looking teen raised his brow as everyone in Demon Fang glared at him. His first words to the guild and they were insults.

Frlea, on the other hand, started to shake in terror. "A-ah, H-Hud what is he doing here?"

Hud simply just laughed scratching the back of his head. "Since you guys were saying how dangerous these fairy guys were I decided to get some help from Bas. He might not look it, but he is just as strong as me, maybe even a little stronger!" Hud laughed causing Bas to grumble.

"Say what you want, like I said once we are done with these faeries, you're my next target," Bas stated sitting down in one of the free seats turning his head away from the rest of the group.

"Talk about being as inviting as a cactus," Juliet stated as Hud grinned.

"That's everyone I brought!" Hud said as Lamy finally cleared her voice, telling everyone in the room it was her turn to speak.

"Okay, if that is everyone I guess it's finally time to activate CUBE!" Lamy stated as she stood up pressing a small button on the side of the panel located in the center of the room. The moment she did the keyboard flipped over revealing a rather large button with her face on it.

"With the single press of the button the cube rise! All the preparations are done...so the only thing left to do..." Without even asking anyone Lamy pressed the button as the room filled with silence.

A few seconds passed as the entire building started to shake. Gravity nearly affected everyone in the room, as if they had been in an elevator that had suddenly started to go up. The sound of the earth being torn asunder entered the ears of all of the Demon Fang members. Some of them even lost their balance, despite that Bas continued to sit in his seat, his eyes closed as if everything happening around him was like a parting breeze.

Hud quickly ran to the window to be greeted with the sight of clouds passing them by. It didn't take a genius to realize that they were going up. Then, just as suddenly as it had started the upward momentum stopped causing everyone's feet to leave the ground ever so slightly.

"Phew...that is always kind of tricky." Lamy took a deep breath as she lifted herself from off of the floor. "Why don't we all go outside to see my handy work!" Lamy puffed up her chest as the rest of Demon Fang baring Bas walked out of the guild house.

What they were greeted with was nothing but a blue sky and a large land mass filled with grass among other things.

"To think, demons were capable of doing something like this. This is rather impressive, even for a hero of justice like myself." Fukuro pointed out as Hud quickly ran to the edge of what seemed to be a platform before looking at the edge.

What he saw was another side of a cube, this time with water. "Huh, why isn't the water falling off?" Hud pointed out as Lamy snorted, feeling far too much pride in explaining the situation.

"That's because the cube has its own gravitational pull. You can actually walk off the edge and onto another side without actually falling off of it. In theory, we could even build more buildings on the different sides!"

"I think one guild house is enough," Ikaruga stated as Lamy smiled.

"I guess, you're right! Regardless you are all free to praise me!" Lamy let out a boastful laugh causing Seilah to groan.

"Lamy...it seems this version of cube is far smaller than the one we used to have." Seilah pointed out as Lamy pouted fidgeting ever so slightly.

"T-that's because we technically don't have all of the cube pieces...though, now that we have a functioning cube it should be much easier to find the rest." Lamy laughed again.

"Alright, that's all fine and good, but are we going to fly this thing like a ship over to Fiore? It seemed like that would take a while and we are bound to be noticed if we did something like that." Heine stated as Lamy placed her hands on her hips.

"Don't worry, I already thought about that. I'll show you how we are going to travel, just come back inside, and I'll show you." Lamy winked as the rest of the guild followed her instructions.

Lamy then walked to the center where the hell core was before typing something on the panel beneath it. The moment she did a large map of Earthland was instantly displayed with a few blinking points as if they were beacons.

"The cube, using ethernano can warp to different areas containing curse power. Of course, this takes a huge amount of curse energy, and to build up enough power to even warp once takes nearly two weeks." Lamy lifted her finger before pressing her hand to her cheeks. "Of course, being the scientist that I am, I already made perpetration when I started constructing the cube. I saved up enough ethernano for at least two warps."

"Gosh Lamy, you sure are smart." Hud pointed out as Lamy snorted letting out her signature annoying laugh.

"Don't say stuff like that. You're making me all hot and heavy!"

"That still doesn't explain how we are going to get to Fiore..." Juliet was all too eager to pop Juliet's bubble as the bunny-eared demon quickly glared at the brown-haired girl.

"I was getting to that!" Lamy cleared her throat before pointing to Seilah. "Since half of Seilah's power is in Fiore we can just mark that as our next destination and instantly go there!"

Frlea crossed his arms looking at Lamy. "Geez, it seems even though you are a sewage bag you thought everything through."

"D-don't insult me after I did all this work!" Lamy snapped as Hud scratched the back of his ear getting the gist of the situation.

"I don't completely get it, but what you are saying is that this thing can take us straight to those fairy guys?" Hud asked as Lamy slumped her shoulders, realizing explaining anymore would probably confuse her guild master along with everyone else in the room.

"Yep, with a few presses, we can head straight to our target," Lamy stated bluntly before saying something else. "Oh, one more thing, as I said before, we only have enough power to warp twice. From there and back, so if we screw this up, we will have to wait an entire month for us to even try again."

"Don't worry, that won't happen." Hud laughed as Lamy sighed sitting in front of the hell core looking around.

"Does anyone have anything they want to do before we start?" Lamy asked looking around to the other members of Demon Fang. When none of them replied Lamy took a deep breath before clicking on the icon on the map. Then with a press of a button, she activated the cube's warp abilities.

The whole thing was instantaneous as if someone blinked. The moment Lamy the sun that was once shinning had vanished as Reiny's eyes widened before she ran to a nearby window looking outside.

"Eh? Why is it night all of a sudden?" The sea monster asked as Ikaruga gaze shifted to one of the windows as well.

"Hmm, Midi is quite far from Fiore, chances are, it is simply a shift in time zones that caused the sudden change in scenery."

"Time what?" Frlea tilted his head as Ikaruga sighed. It honestly made far too much sense that monsters would have no idea what time zones were and what they did.

Hud also walked towards one of the windows looking down at the scenery below. "It looks like we are above some kind of city."

"It's most likely Magnolia, at least if the fairy that took Seilah's power is currently at the guild." Heine pointed out as Hud grinned looking down at the large number of lights that shined up at them.

"Gosh, I'm getting all excited now! Let's hurry up and fight!" Hud nearly cheered as he could hear Seilah clearing her voice.

"Don't do something so rash, do you even have a plan? Besides that, I already told you in our current state we can't destroy the faeries. Today's plan is simply to capture the fairy that took half of my curse power and leave." Seilah pointed out as Bas scoffed finally opening his eyes and standing up.

"I should have expected that one of Zeref's toys would be gutless. Well, it doesn't really matter what you want. I am here to hunt dragon slayers, and now that I am here I don't actually need to listen to anything else the rest of you trash have to say." Bas chuckled as he walked towards the front door as Hud's eye twitched.

"O-oy, Bas what are you doing?" Hud frowned as Bas cracked his neck.

"As I said, I'm hunting dragon slayers. I have no interest in helping a broken doll get her worthless abilities back." With those words, Bas jumped off the side of the cube and down to the town bellow causing Hud to pout.

"That jerk, he could at least wait for the rest of us..." Hud grumbled as Velt let out an irritated sigh.

"You probably should have expected that when you asked him to come with us..." Velt pointed out before the wolf monster turned his attention to Seilah. "Not trying to be rude, but we may want to get a plan ready as quickly as possible. Leaving Bas alone, even if he is on our side will cause trouble, and knowing him, he will probably try to do something he can't take back."

Seilah let out an irritated sigh. "I don't care what happens to that Bas monster, but he is going to put the entire plan in jeopardy." Seilah held her breath. "Very well, the plan is simple. If you find a fairy, capture them, and bring them back to me. We honestly only need one for the rest to come running, so the moment you have one come straight back to the cube."

Velt looked at the demon giving the order before speaking. "That seems simple enough, however...what do these faeries look like?"

The moment Velt said that Seilah's eyes widened, it was such a simple thing to overlook. However, Hud, Velt, Bas, and Frlea had no knowledge of what any of the members of Fairy Tail looked like. Even Reiny would only have passing knowledge from the magazines she had read.

"Hmm...most of them have a guild mark on their body. So you should be able to identify them from that." Seilah pointed out as she noticed Reiny slowly pulling out what appeared to be a magazine before showing it to her fellow monsters.

"Their guild mark looks like this...they always show the guild marks of all the guilds featured in Sorcerer Magazine." Reiny pointed out showing them the guild mark as Hud nodded.

"Alright, got it memorized...now all we have to d-"

"W-wait, I almost forgot something really important!" Frlea stated as he jumped off of his friend's shoulders. "I'm not going to let a whole month of extra work go unappreciated." With those words, Frlea puffed his cheeks as he made a sound similar to that of someone trying to lift a heavy object.

At that moment six green celery sticks popped out of the plant monster's head as he took a deep breath.

"Frlea...what are these?" Jerome asked walking up to the small plant creature.

"They are something I invented during that month the rest of you were doing stupid stuff. It's a special edible plant that completely heals any wounds if you eat the whole thing."

"You...actually managed to make something like that?" Ikaruga eyes widened as Frlea scoffed.

"Don't underestimate us monsters. Just because the ability to heal was lost to you humans and demons doesn't me we monsters are as careless." Frlea pointed out before continuing. "Though I should tell you that making those take a huge amount of time, just creating six of them takes a month, and I wouldn't be able to make anymore while we're here. So if you need someone to heal you just find me personally before wasting one of my celery sticks!"

The moment Frlea finished Jerome, Ikaruga, Seilah, Juliet, Briar, and Lamy took one.

"Huh? You aren't going to take one Hud?" Frlea asked as Hud quickly shook his head.

"We monsters heal faster anyway. Besides, it wouldn't be fair to my opponent if I could just eat something and completely recover my stamina. It wouldn't feel right if I won doing something like that." Hud laughed as Frlea groaned.

"I should have figured you would say something like that...then again, it doesn't matter since I'm going to be coming with you!" Frlea quickly jumped back onto his friend's shoulders.

"I guess we should decide teams next...if there are going to be any," Velt asked as Seilah shrugged.

"I'll leave that to your discretion," Seilah stated. "However, there should be someone here to defend the cube just in case we get some unwanted guests."

"Don't worry about that, while I removed most of the cube's offensive abilities I gave it some stealth abilities as well. It should be invisible to the naked eye." Lamy pointed out. "Not only that, but it will automatically lower itself to the ground to save on energy along with allowing members to jump back on."

"Alright, if everything is done let's go and capture a fairy or something!" Hud cheered as he ran out of the guild house jumping off of the cube as Frlea hung on for dear life.

"H-hey Hud!" Reiny called out, but by the time she did he, and the plant monster had vanished into the city below causing her to mumble something under her breath.

"Hey, Velt, do you want to make a team with me?" Reiny quickly asked the only remaining monster as the wolf creature simply shook his head.

"No, I am going after Bas to make sure he doesn't do something stupid." With those words, Velt walked out of the building before he too jumped from off of the large structure.

Reiny ground her teeth before turning her attention to Lamy. "You, ugly, unfashionable, gremlin demon. You're going to be my partner!" Reiny words sounded more like a demand than a request as Lamy quickly held up her hands.

"W-wait, shouldn't I stay here since I'm the only one that c-" Before Lamy could finish Reiny grabbed the bunny demon by her ears before throwing her out of the building as well as off the side of the cube. Reiny shortly jumped off the side as well causing Juliet to sigh.

"Geez, monsters sure are impatient. They at least could have waited to see if everyone else was okay with the groups they picked."

"I suppose it is to be expected by now. In the end, it shouldn't matter if everything goes well." Seilah smiled as her eyes slowly wandered to the window, the moonlight shining into the building. "I suppose it is finally time to hunt some faeries."

 **Author note**

 **Sorry if this chapter was boring. But I feel like it was needed to establish where everyone stands. It also pretty much the start of this arc proper, which is probably going to be the longest arc so far. Which kind of makes me a bit nervous honestly.**

 **EXTRA**

 **Interviews.**

Monster Hud.

 _1\. What is the best part about Demon Fang?_

"Ah, the best part is that everyone is pretty strong!"

 _2\. Any Future Dreams?_

"To become as strong as possible! Maybe even get to Physical Perfection...though if I become the strongest life would be pretty dull huh?"

 _3\. Who are you closest too?_

"I want to say everyone, but if I had to pick a few, it would be Frlea, Seilah and Lamy!"

 _4\. Hardest Job?_

"Hmm, the time where we were almost was eaten by a Country Destroyer, though I got to fight a really amazing guy because of it!"

 _5\. Person you find the most attractive?_

"Gosh, that sounds like a question my mom would ask...but if I had to pick someone it would probably be Seilah. I think she is really pretty when she is in her etherious form...at least that is what I think she called it.

Plant Frlea

 _1\. What is the best part about Demon Fang?_

"Me, of course!"

 _2\. Any Future Dreams?_

"To become so beautiful that no one can call me ugly again...especially my mom!"

 _3\. Who are you closest too?_

"Hud, duh, but if I had to pick a few others it would probably be Owl-head and Ikaruga...and maybe Lamy, but don't tell her that!"

 _4\. Hardest Job?_

"Any time I'm not with Hud is hard really."

 _5\. Person you find the most attractive?_

"Hmm? I don't get it...is this a non-plant thing?

Seilah

 _1\. What is the best part about Demon Fang?_

"Most of the members are rather agreeable. That and the large amount of non-humans in the guild."

 _2\. Any Future Dreams?_

"To create a demon world, though I am willing to extend that to monsters as well if necessary."

 _3\. Who are you closest too?_

"Despite how disgusting she can be, I am fond of Lamy. This of course extends to Monster as well.

 _4\. Hardest Job?_

"I wasn't fond of entering that so called Country Destroyer..."

 _5\. Person you find the most attractive?_

"If we are talking about Females it would be Heine, if Males...it would most likely be Monster, however he is quite dense. To the point where even if said that to his face he would probably simply laugh..."


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

 **The Fish and the Lamb.**

"Hey, ugly gremlin thing...do you know where we are?" Reiny asked bluntly as Lamy's eyes narrowed as the two of them walked down the streets of Magnolia Town.

"Y-you know I have a name. It's Lamy...besides how am I supposed to know that? I've never actually been in this town." Lamy pointed out before examining Reiny's body for a moment. "Plus, don't you think you should cover up some of your features, you kind of stick out."

"Me, cover up my beauty?" Reiny scoffed at the very idea. "Maybe hiding your face is normal for you more beauty challenged demons. However, for me, covering up might as well be a crime." Reiny lifted her finger as Lamy gave the monster a sideways glance.

"I...guess it's alright since we got here so late there is barely anyone walking around. Though, I don't think we are going to find any faeries just walking around." Lamy pointed out as Reiny pulled out another Sorcerer Magazine causing the bunny-eared demon to wonder why the monster bothered bringing it with her.

"Well, from what I can read we can make our way to their guild house..."

"No way, they'll kill us for sure if we barge into there!" Lamy whined causing Reiny to roll her eyes.

"Hmm, it does seem like some of the mages addresses are also posted here too." Reiny pointed out causing Lamy to slump her shoulders.

"Maybe it's because I'm a demon, but posting someone's address in a magazine like that doesn't sound safe at all." Lamy felt the need to point that out, then again it wasn't like there was a Demon Weekly or anything, so she had no frame of reference if it was considered normal or not.

"It's not our problem if they want to give that info to the world. Besides, it doesn't seem like all the members' addresses are listed here, only their models."

"That...kind of makes it worse." Lamy groaned as Reiny scanned the pages for an easy target before a certain member caught the sea angel's attention.

"Her..." Reiny grumbled looking at the picture with a certain level of disdain that could only be described as someone looking at a potential rival.

"Who are you looking at?" Lamy peeked over Reiny's shoulders as she noticed the monster's finger hovering over a specific blonde woman that looked oddly familiar. Though Lamy herself couldn't put her finger on it.

"Lucy Heartfilia..."Reiny grumbled as Lamy looked at the address marked in the magazine before her gaze shifted to the nearby street sign.

"It looks like we're pretty close to her apartment. Do you think she'll be an easy target?" Lamy asked bluntly as Reiny sighed.

"Who cares about that? Look at her blonde hair and her big dumb boobs, I just kind of want to punch her in her face!" Reiny snapped as Lamy just looked at the blue-skinned monster.

"That's a terrible reason to pick a target!" Lamy said before examining Lucy's picture once again. "Then again...there is something about her that I don't like..." Lamy realized just how petty she was sounding, then again she was a demon. Maybe it was just in her nature.

"See~ Even if you have awful taste in clothing, you seem to be at least be aware of when someone is radiating tackiness. Maybe once this is over, I can give you some sort of make-over so you won't look like a walking trash fire." Reiny voice perked up causing Lamy's shoulders to slouch.

"Everyone keeps calling me ugly even after I grew my hair out..." Lamy mumbled something under her breath as Reiny handed her the magazine.

"Since I don't know how to read human streets and you seem to know a lot of useless information I'll let you guide the way," Reiny demanded as Lamy groaned. Somehow Reiny managed to be even more insulting than Frlea.

* * *

Lucy took a deep breath as she opened the door to her apartment. The Fairy Tail mage smiled as she undid her ribbon in her hair, her body relaxing ever so slightly. "I really need to make sure I get back earlier than this..." Lucy sighed as she walked deeper into her apartment.

Once again, celebrations ended up taking far longer than she expected. Not that she minded, even if everyone got a bit rowdy the sheer joy that Fairy Tail exhibited was enough for her to forget about her worries.

"Thinking about it, me and the others are supposed to head out on a quest tomorrow." Lucy sighed as she slowly cut on the light in her room. A part of her was hoping that she would be able to see Master and Mest again before they left.

The two of them had recently gone to visit the Magic Council. Even if it had nearly been two years since the new one was created there was a certain amount of kinks that needed to be sorted it. Even if all the members were wizard saints, there were a certain amount of steps that needed to be taken before the council got to the same level of functionality that it had before Tartaros destroyed it.

"I am sure everything will go smoothly." Lucy smiled as she pressed her fingers to her thigh undoing her hatch. As she did, she placed her keys next to her bed making sure they were stored properly before reaching to the other side of her body before realizing something.

"...EH?! Don't tell me I forgot my purse!" Lucy frowned quickly scanning the rest of her body knowing it wasn't going to do her any good. "A-all my money was in there..." The blonde mage slumped her shoulders.

While the guild house was always open the walk back would have been a pain. "I guess I should consider myself lucky that I didn't leave my keys behind." The blonde stated. "I guess it's okay. I'm sure it's going to be there tomorrow."

Lucy told herself, chances were, either Juvia or Mira would have kept it safe until she went by the next day and got it.

Still, it was somewhat unsettling not having all of her stuff with her. Though it wasn't like she could do anything about it. "Maybe a nice bath will take my mind off of it."

Lucy smiled to herself as she walked towards her room, taking a look at her closet before her body froze, if only for a second. "Was...my closet open when I left?" It was a strange thing to wonder as the celestial mage looked at her wardrobe. "All my clothes...it's like they've been moved around."

The normal answer for this would have been simply that she forgot that she moved some things while getting dressed. However, Lucy couldn't shake this odd feeling that something was right.

"My door was locked, and I don't think anyone broke in..." Lucy frowned. "Maybe I'm just tired."

The mage dismissed her fear as she headed into the bathroom. After all, even if all her clothes were in a different order, none of them seem to have been taken. Not only that, but nothing else seemed to have been out of place. It really didn't make sense for someone to break into her apartment just to look at everything.

As Lucy got undressed she started the water she felt another chill run down her spine. She looked down at the hot water she was pouring into the tub noticing how strangely blue it was.

It was a strange thing to think about, but it was almost as if someone had put dye in the water for some reason. "S-something isn't right here..." She had already ignored her instincts once. She wasn't going to ignore them a second time. She quickly turned off the water faucet...at least she attempted to. But no matter how much she turned it water continued to flow out of it.

Lucy froze as water continued to fill the tub before overflowing off the sides. She quickly shook her head. "I need to get my keys!" She went to move only to realize her feet wasn't responding.

She looked down noticing the water that had overflowed from the tub was now gripping her legs. Lucy froze as she looked up towards the window that was located above her tub to be greeted with a horrifyingly familiar face.

Lamy smiled looking through the closed window. Then, almost like a serpent, the bunny-eared demon slipped her entire arm through the crack in the window that couldn't have been larger than an inch.

She then unlocked it jumping through the opening letting out an eerie laugh. "Geez, that was way easier than I thought."

"Y-you're that demon..." Lucy froze as Lamy's eyes widened.

"Huh? You know me? I guess Demon Fang is pretty popular." Lamy blushed scratching the back of her head as Lucy held her breath.

"We've met before..." Lucy felt the need to point that out as Lamy pressed her finger to her lips.

"Ah...you must be talking about the original Lamy. Because I think I would remember someone as stupid looking as you." The bunny eared demon gave a rather childish insult as Lucy eyes slowly wandered to her feet. The water was still keeping her in place.

"W-what do you want? Are you here for revenge or something?" Lucy frowned, her mind thinking of at least a dozen different ways she could get out of her current situation. Unfortunately, without her keys, she couldn't do much, even more so while the weird.

"Revenge? Aren't you being a bit arrogant?" Another voice entered the room, but it didn't come from Lamy. Instead, a figure was slowly rising from the tub. At first, it looked like some kind of strange goop monster, before it finally gained a figure of a blue-skinned woman.

"Phew, it's been a while since I've melted my body down like that. Something like that is probably more useful to mermaids." The blue-skinned woman stretched as she placed her hand on her hips.

"W-who ar-" Lucy didn't even get to finish her statement as the water that was surrounding her wrap itself around her body before making a bubble. The mage winced expecting herself to have to hold her breath, but upon further inspection, it seemed like it really was closer to a bubble than Juvia's water lock.

"Nice going Reiny!" Lamy laughed as the sea angel picked up the bubble Lucy was trapped in lifting it with a single hand.

"And you were worried. Honestly, he probably didn't even need to waste time hiding considering she barely put up a fight." Reiny scoffed as she started to bounce the bubble like it was a ball causing Lucy to tumble about inside. "Though delivering her back to the others while naked might be a bit tacky."

Lamy nodded. "You got that right, having to stare at her like that all the way back would be annoying."

Lucy frowned, not being able to understand a word her captors were saying. It seemed the bubble also blocked out all sounds coming in and out of it as Reiny sighed.

"I guess we are going to have to deal wi-" Before Reiny could finish her statement both she and Lamy heard a knock at the door. The monster and demon froze, as the two wondered what their next move would be.

"W-we should just get out of here. We just needed to capture one of them remember!" Lamy pointed out as Reiny crossing her arms.

"What are you so scared of? Did you see how easy it was to capture one of them? Think about how many heads we'd turn if we went back to the others with two? I am pretty sure that smug horned demon would be surprised." Reiny laughed to herself as Lamy slumped her shoulders.

Lamy was pretty sure that Reiny was referring to Seilah when she was talking about the smug demon. Still, the monster had a point. They were able to capture one member of Fairy Tail without even throwing a punch.

"Aw, fine...let's just do it right quick so we can hurry up and leave." Lamy pointed out before turning her attention to Lucy who was still trapped inside the bubble. "Don't go anywhere okay!" Lamy grinned flicking the bubble as Reiny put down the orb as the two of them exited the room.

"W-what were they talking about? And where did they leave me here?" Lucy frowned, once again due to the bubble she couldn't hear anything that Lamy and Reiny had said, leaving her to piece it together herself.

"No...that doesn't matter, right now I need to find a way out of this thing," Lucy grumbled as she pressed her hands against the water pushing against it as something strange happened. The bubble itself stretched, contorting to Lucy's fingers.

Lucy then attempted to push the bubble, but as she did she instantly slipped causing her to roll about. "T-this is like a weird soap bubble or something..." Either way, it wasn't something she would be able to pop from the inside.

Lucy then looked over to the door as she pressed her finger against the bubble once again. "Maybe if I can take my time I'll be able to make it to the door..."

* * *

"I wonder if this is okay..." Juvia sighed to herself looking at Lucy's purse. "Well, Juvia is sure Lucy wouldn't mind!" The blue haired mage smiled, considering how often people would drop by her apartment unannounced it could only be described as normal at that point.

Juvia lifted the key she got from Mira pressing it against the door as the water mage noticed something. "Oh...it's already unlocked," Juvia said as she slipped inside looking around.

All the lights were on, meaning that Lucy was most likely still awake. Though, the water mage got a strange feeling as she walked through Lucy's apartment. "Lucy, Juvia wonders if you are home..." Juvia called out, only to hear no response. Juvia's eyes narrowed holding Lucy's purse as she walked further into the apartment.

It was clear someone had been inside as the water mage walked into Lucy's bedroom examining the area. The closet was close, but that wasn't the strange part, the strange part was the wet spot under the door leading into the bathroom.

Juvia froze as her hand hovered over the doorknob as she heard Lucy's bed shift ever so slightly.

"Gahahah! Got you!" Without warning, Lamy slipped out from under Lucy's bed, despite there not being enough room under Lucy's bed to actually hide anyone.

Juvia's eyes widened as Lamy grabbed her, at least...Lamy attempted to do so. The moment Lamy's hands made contact Juvia's body they passed right through.

"Eh? wh-" before Lamy could comprehend what had just happened, she was blasted with a torrent of water sending her to the ceiling.

The demon was absolutely drenched as she fell to the floor coughing up water.

"Who are you, and where is Lucy!" Juvia gave a demand as Lamy continued to cough before shaking her head.

"I-I knew this was a bad idea, Reiny help!" Lamy called out as an audible grumble could be heard from the closet. At that moment the closet opened as Reiny crawled along the ceiling descending upon Juvia.

Juvia eyes widened as Reiny prepared to kick her enemy. Once again Juvia's body became water, however... "Gah!" Despite knowing for a fact that her water body was active, she still felt Reiny's heel dig into her cheek knocking her away.

"Please don't tell me you expect a little trick like that to work on me." Reiny sneered as she lifted her foot. "You know mermaids also have the ability to turn their bodies into water. So it's only natural that us sea angels learned to counter such things." Reiny puffed up her chest as Juvia held her cheek for a moment.

"Are you two...demons?" Juvia asked as Reiny crossed her arms.

"Don't worry about it, in fact. Soon you won't have to worry about anything." Reiny eyes widened before rushing towards her target as Juvia quickly held her hand up. As she did Reiny's feet were lifted off of the ground, an orb of water slowly appeared around her as Lamy lifted both of her arms.

"EHHH! Reiny!" Lamy cried out as Juvia's eyes narrowed.

"Where is Lucy..." Juvia insisted as Reiny simply tilted her head as she floated in the orb of liquid. Then, seemingly at random, the monster opened her mouth sucking in the water as if she was drinking it. In less than a second Reiny was free as she placed her hand on her chest.

"Considering how much you like using water, I guess you are a water mage...perhaps you are a descendant of those mermaids. Either way, capturing you might be a bit difficult." Reiny placed her finger against her lips before turning to Lamy. "I suggest you leave through the nearest window..."

"W-why?" Lamy stuttered as Reiny placed her hands on her stomach as she took a deep breath. Reiny's rib-cage slowly started to expand before she a large wave of water escaped from her lips as Lucy's room started to fill with water.

"D-don't do that. There aren't even any windows in this room!" Lamy whined as she carelessly opened the door to the bathroom. The moment she did she felt something like a bubble knock itself into her.

"Blegh..." The demon was pushed back as the bubble Lucy was in squeezed itself to the shape of the door frame allowing itself to squeeze into her bedroom.

"L-Lucy!" Juvia smiled as Lucy quickly looked around her room.

Her room and all of her clothing were completely soaked, as Reiny quickly stopped her torrent of water before glaring at her partner.

"You dumb idiot! You let her out of the bathro-" Reiny wasn't able to finish her statement as something whipped her in her face sending her to the ground.

Without even saying another word Juvia send a sharp blade of water towards the bubble Lucy was in popping it instantly.

"Lucy, are you alright?" Juvia asked as Lucy quickly covered herself before letting out a defeated sigh.

"I'm okay...wish I can say the same thing about my apartment and my dignity."

"W-wah, now they are both out!" Lamy whined as she helped Reiny up.

"And who's fault is that?!" Reiny yelled as Lamy slumped her shoulders giving the monster a glare.

"I wanted to leave after we captured the blonde one, you're the one that wanted to press our luck...maybe we should just run away." Lamy groaned as Reiny bit her bottom lip looking at the two mages that stood in opposition of her.

"I refuse to retreat against this blonde bimbo and that walking fashion disaster standing next to her," Reiny stated as Juvia's eyes widened, it was as if her heart had been hit with a spear.

"Fashion disaster?" Juvia repeated those words, a sober look slowly creeping onto the water mages face.

"I-is that really something to be worrying about right now."' Lucy pointed out as Reiny took another step forward causing, her attention slowly refocusing on Juvia.

"Listen, you take care of the naked blonde girl, and I'll take care of tacky over here." Reiny lowered her stance as Lamy sighed before turning her attention to Lucy.

"I guess that's fair..." Lamy replied as Lucy froze, her eyes slowly wandering to the spot next to her bed where her keys were. She was tempted to ask Juvia for help, but before she could a blast of water hit the blue-haired water mage sending her into the next room.

Before Lucy could react Lamy prepared to leap on her target, but suddenly the demon stopped, her hands just inches away from their target.

"W-why did she stop?" Lucy's eyes widened causing a large frown to creep on Lamy's face.

"I-I just realized you're still naked if I tried to grab you know people might start spreading rumors..." Lamy closed her eyes for a moment weighing her options as the blonde mage took the opportunity to rush towards her keys.

"Wait, hold on...what are you planning?" Lamy quickly snapped out of her daze as the demon reached for the keys that Lucy was after. Luckily for the mage, she managed to grab them before her foe could.

Without even looking at what key she had in her hand Lucy placed it in her body causing Lamy's body to quickly freeze.

In an instant, the mage's body was quickly covered with a strange outfit. Lucy's hair was tied in two giant buns. A white and black top covered her chest similar to that of the skin of a cow as Lucy gripped a whip that was in her hands.

Lamy just examined the celestial mage for a moment before giving a rather horrified look. "I-is this the legendary stripper magic I heard about?!"

"What?! Of course not!" Lucy snapped back before putting the rest of her keys back in her pouch.

"I guess it doesn't matter, now that you are wearing something I don't have to worry about my reputation!" Lamy dashed towards her the blonde mage causing Lucy to change her stance.

The range was about right as Lucy lifted her weapon attempting to crack it against the demon's body. However, something strange happened as Lamy's body spun seemingly deflecting it closing the distance between her and Lucy.

Lucy's heart nearly stopped as Lamy was in arms reach as the blonde mage reeled back her fist. After all, Taurus Star Dress provided enhanced strength even without the whip. A simple punch would be all that was needed to at least damage the odd demon in front of her.

However, as Lamy reeled back her fist, Lamy did something strange, instead of touching the arm that was about to punch her she placed her hand on the whip Lucy was holding.

"Eh..." Lucy was about to ignore the strange gesture before she noticed her whip slipping out of her hand. Which was odd considering just how solid a grip she had on it.

Lamy smiled, Lucy was distracted enough not to notice Lamy's heel on the tip of Lucy's boot causing Lucy's footwear to fall off tripping up the mage.

"Fufufuf!" Lamy laughed as she gripped Lucy's arm reaching towards the pouch that the mage had just placed the keys in. "I don't know what those keys do, but they seem important~."

Lucy's eye twitched as she violently twisted her arm not remembering the strength her current outfit gave to her.

In a blink of an eye, Lamy was thrown off of Lucy's arm and through the ceiling of the apartment building completely ejecting her from the building.

"I...actually didn't mean to do that." Lucy's eyes wandered to the newly created hole in the ceiling before she shook her head. "I don't have time to worry about that. I have to see if Juvia is okay!"

* * *

Juvia slid back as the door to Lucy's apartment flew open. She was now outside as Reiny walked out the monster's arms crossed.

"Talk about annoying, if I try to hit her with a water attack she just avoids it or cancels it out...then again, the fact that she can turn her body into water..." Reiny pressed her finger to her lips as Juvia glared at her opponent.

There was no need to ask any more questions, as Juvia slowly turned her head towards the canal that was behind her.

"If you are thinking about using water on me then forget it. Honestly, even I have given up trying to beat you with it." Reiny shrugged as her nose twitched, she took in a deep breath as if she was bull before exhaling a thick mist.

Juvia covered her face as the mist covered the entire street. The water mage's eyes darted around before realizing something about her opponent.

Juvia couldn't sense any magic from her at all, despite clearly using similar techniques. This was even stranger considering even when demons used their curses they exhibited some sort of magical pressure. However, the creature she was fighting exhibited nothing of the sort.

"Enough!" Juvia blew away the water particles only to realize her opponent had completely vanished. "Where could she have gone..." Juvia looked around wondering if her enemy had ran.

Still, something didn't feel right. Juvia looked towards her feet, noting there was nothing unusual before looking to the sky. Once again nothing out of the ordinary. Surely if Juvia's enemy was going to launch a counterattack, she would have done so by now.

Despite all of that, Juvia knew something was off in the core of her very being. She quickly turned around and stared down at the canal...once again nothing was out of the ordinary.

"D-did she go back inside to try and attack Lucy again." Juvia shivered as she motioned to head back into the apartment. However, the moment that she did her body froze.

"Huh...letting down your guard must be a human trait." Reiny snickered as Juvia's body froze. The blue-haired water mage turned her head to see Reiny standing right next to her seemingly appearing from nowhere.

The monster reached out her hand grabbing Juvia's arm as her water body instantly activated.

The moment it did Juvia tripped backward, despite water body having no effect on the Reiny before it seemingly activated on its own. Juvia shook her head finally regaining balance, feeling oddly lighter for some reason.

The water mage then slowly looked down at her left or, or rather tried to look down at it only for a feeling of dread to overcome her. Juvia's arm was...simply gone. There was no blood or even a sensation of pain. The arm she tried to turn into water was missing as the water mage quickly turned her attention back to her enemy.

"Lalalala! It seems that your body is so used to defending itself that even at times where it's better to remain flesh and bone it transforms into water." Reiny snorted as she balanced a large orb of blue water on the tip of her fingers. "By the way, this water here is your arm..."

"H-how did you..."

"Didn't I tell you? Mermaids use a pretty similar magic to you, while we sea angels melt or body down mermaids use their magic to turn their body into water. As a result, we developed a technique to control water that comes into contact with our skin. Of course, I never expected to use it on a human." Reiny smiled before splitting the water into three orbs juggling them.

"You..." Juvia's eyes narrowed as Reiny returned the orbs of water into a single large one.

"Don't worry, despite the nature of the technique it is not deadly." Reiny pointed out before pressing her lips to the water orb as she drank it, to much of Juvia's horror. "Even if drank your head and or your heart as long as it ends up back together in my second stomach you should be able to reform. I mean...killing is so unfashionable."

Juvia didn't reply, since the water that made up her body was special she couldn't just replace it with anything. It would be the equivalent of some getting their hand cut off and trying to replace it with a steak.

"Now then...I'm going to drink each piece of your body until you are fully captured." Reiny smiled pressing her fingers to her lips.

 **Author Note**

 **Making Reiny's abilities interesting but different enough from Juvia's was kind of a pain. I also feel like maybe the action scene suffers from a bit of whiplash, considering how comical it is up to the point where Juvia loses an arm, even if it is non-fatal. Reiny was also supposed to have more siren like abilities, but I just kind of forgot to introduce them at a good time.**

EXTRA.

Lamy: "Ah, I've been wondering Reiny, you seem a lot different than the Deep Ones I've met. What exactly are Sea Angels?"

Reiny: "I'm glad you asked my ugly friend...Sea Angels are the most beautiful, perfect monsters of the sea. Us, along with Deep Ones and Mermaids are the three major races that rule the ocean."

Lamy: "You didn't need to call me ugly...ignoring that, does that mean monsters mostly rule over the oceans?"

Reiny: "Not exactly, those tacky mermaids aren't considered monsters. Since they technically can use magic they would fall under the demon category. Which makes sense since they look pretty gross...kind of like you."

Lamy: "S-stop insulting me...though, it doesn't sound like you get along with mermaids very well."

Reiny: "Of course not! Even though we are the most beautiful creatures of the sea they keep trying to show off. Plus they've been obnoxious since the great Sea Angel and Mermaid war long ago..."

Lamy: "W-wait that happened? Geez,guess even beauty has some problems. Then again, I can't imagine many Sea Angel guys being interested in that."

Reiny: "Actually, we Sea Angels are a female only species. If we want to reproduce we have to find a human male or a monster from another species to do it with."

Lamy: "That sounds annoying, yet also weirdly romantic, your species must be pretty small if that's the case."

Reiny: "Well, since sea angels tend to have up to fifteen kids during one pregnancy it's not much of an issue."

Lamy : "T-that's way too many!"


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

 **The Wolf and the Serpent.**

"Damn, all these humans smell the same, and their souls don't look any different either." Bas groaned looking around the empty streets of Magnolia before a smile crept on his face. He looked at one of the nearby buildings as his hand started to vibrate. "Maybe some destruction will lure the Dragon Slayers out." Bas reeled back his fist, but before he could do anything he stopped.

"Bas...what are you doing?" A familiar voice echoed through the night sky as the serpent monster turned to see Velt standing behind him.

"What do you want Beastkin? I am busy..." Bas' hand twitched as the wolf-monster eyes narrowed.

"Causing pointless destruction, if you want to do something like that do it on your own time. Unless you are too incompetent to find a few mages in a city like this." Velt pointed out as the serpent finally lowered his letting out a grumble.

"Very well, after all. I'm not from this country, and this city hasn't been marked for destruction anyway. If I cause too much damage, it might be an issue." Bas laughed as Velt crossed his arms.

"If they are really a famous guild then they must have a guildhall of some sorts." The wolf-monster pointed out.

"It doesn't matter if it's a guildhall or somewhere else, as long as there is a dragon slayer there I'll slaughter them, and you better not get in my way!" Bas snapped causing Velt to let out an irritated sigh.

"Do what you will, I have no interest in pointless murder. I'll capture a fairy-like I was told and head back to the Guildhall." Velt pointed out as Bas raised his eyebrow.

"If you truly thought that you wouldn't be here! Now make yourself useful and try to smell our targets!" Bas' snapped as Velt grumbled.

"It seems that the only thing that matches your race's strength is their arrogance." Velt shot back as he lifted his head slightly smelling the surrounding area. At first, he simply picked up the scent of flowers and pollen before he picked up on something more interesting. "...Huh."

"What is it beastkin?"

"I smell some high-quality metal coming from that direction. Most likely an armory of some sorts. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is unnaturally high, whoever has those sort of weapons isn't going to be a normal blacksmith." Velt pointed out as Bas grinned.

"Then most likely they are a strong mage. Humans tend to rely on their toys for strength...not unlike yourself." Bas smirked as Velt remained silent before taking a few steps forward.

"I am not too fond of weapons crafted by humans, or magical items in general. I find them far too flimsy, and they tend to break after a couple of uses. However, I am interested."

"Fine then, lead the way, and don't get in my way once we get there." Bas snapped before continuing. "I really don't care if you leave or die honestly, so don't expect me to help you!"

"That's good because the thought of me having to thank you makes me want to puke." Velt fired back as the two of them walked towards the direction of the strange smelling metal.

* * *

Erza sat on her bed, something gnawing in the back of her mind. Her body was tense despite it being close to midnight and she honestly just couldn't sleep.

"Juvia should have returned by now..." Erza frowned, it was such an odd thing to be worried about. Most likely she and Lucy were just talking for a bit, and at worst the water mage just decided to stay over Lucy's house for the night.

It wouldn't have been the first time something like that happened. Plus it wasn't like Juvia used her room a lot in Fairy Hills, at least not since she had started staying with Grey.

Yet, despite all of that, Titania couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, and it took all of her not to go to Lucy's apartment herself to check.

"Oh, Erza, you're still awake?" Erza's eye twitched as she heard a voice coming from her doorway to see a familiar face.

"Evergreen?" Erza's eyes widened as the brown-haired thunder legion member stood int he doorway.

"...What's wrong? You seemed bothered by something." Evergreen stated as Erza quickly shook her head.

"It's nothing, just have a bad feeling that's all..." Erza pointed out.

Evergreen adjusted her glasses as she walked into her friend's room. "Is it about the letter that Jellal sent you?" Evergreen cut straight to the heart of the matter causing Erza to hold her breath.

"So...you managed to figure that out." The red-haired mage replied the only other person she had shared the contents of the letter with was Makarov, even then she kept the rest of it to herself as to not worry her guildmates.

Evergreen crossed her arms before sitting in a nearby chair next to Erza's bed. "At first I thought it was just a lover's quarrel, but it seems like it's a bit more important than that."

Erza didn't respond right away, weighing her options. She couldn't come clean, not completely. Still, perhaps sharing some key information would be useful. "Jellal's letter was about an encounter he had with a dark guild about a month ago."

"A Dark Guild? Is that it?" Evergreen was somewhat confused. Sure Dark Guild's could be dangerous, but it wasn't anything to be concerned about. Especially for someone like Jellal.

"That is the thing. Apparently, the members of the guild weren't normal. A few of them were from former dark guilds, and apparently, one member was incredibly powerful." Erza paused for a moment, "powerful enough that Jellal told me he actually lost."

Evergreen's eyes widened the moment Erza uttered that statement. "A-are you sure? I honestly don't imagine Jellal losing to anyone, at least not in a fair fight."

"That is what he wrote in his letter, but he didn't give me too many details. Apparently, he is looking into it mo-" Erza cut herself off, something was off. Even if she couldn't sense any magic something in the back of her head was giving her a warning.

"Eh, Erza what are y-" Evergreen didn't even finish her statement as Erza quickly grabbed her guildmate pushing her to the floor. At that moment one of the walls was blown open, pieces of wood and stone flying about the room as dust filled the room.

"An attack?!" Erza shouted as both she and Erza stood up to see the broken wall. The light of the moon shining into her room as a figure stepped through the makeshift entrance.

They were...rather short to say the least. They had long tendrils for hair along with deep red eyes. "So, are there any dragon slayers here?" It was a strange question to ask causing Erza and Evergreen to glare at him.

"Who are you?!" Erza gave a demand as the teen gray-skinned teen raised one of his eyebrows.

"Oh, is that really how you want to talk to the great Bas? You humans sure have gotten uppity. Perhaps it's because the average monster strength in this country is low." Bas smirked as he took another step towards Erza and Evergreen. The moment he did Erza instantly requiped her Heart Kreuz Armor changing out of her nightdress.

Not only that but two blades appeared in her hands as she rushed towards the monster causing the gray-skinned creature's eyes widened.

"What is this some kind of joke?!" Bas snapped as he lifted both of his hands grabbed the blades. Without even saying anything else he kicked the mage through the wall.

"Erza!" Evergreen motioned to attack, however, Bas simply turned his head glaring at her.

The moment the mage felt like her body was weighed down. For a second Evergreen thought that he had placed some sort of spell on her before realizing he did nothing. Just the pressure from his gaze was enough to stop her from making a move.

Perhaps because Evergreen knew if she did then she would have been killed that instant.

The monster walked through the second hole he had created to see Erza against the wall, the red-head glaring at her opponent.

"If you are holding back, I suggest you stop, if not, tell me where the dragon slayers are, and I'll be on my way. I don't have time to waste on garbage like you." Bas grumbled.

"His speed...that wasn't normal." Erza stood up as pieces of her armor started to crumble. "I didn't even see his movements when he caught my swords or kicked me..." In an instant, Erza changed armor once again, this time her Flight Armor.

Bas' eye twitched at the sudden change of clothing. "Are...you making fun of me?"

Erza didn't even bother to respond as she vanished from the Bas' sight appearing directly next to him. The monster instinctively swayed his body avoiding the short swords as the knight pivoted her foot preparing another attack.

Then, the monster did something odd. He took both feet off of the ground swinging them both into the air. The movement was unexpected, to say the least as Erza lifted her blades blocking the twin kick as it sent her into the ceiling.

Bas once again swayed his body perfectly landing as he looked up at the ceiling with a smile.

"He isn't a normal mage...I don't even know if he is a mage." Erza frowned as she gripped her duel swords removing herself from the ceiling. As she landed back on the ground, she noticed her hands started to shake as well as her weapon. After a second the swords she was hold shattered.

"Eh, your toys aren't very durable. Of course, I won't have to break any more of them if you just tell me where I can find some Dragon Slayers." Bas insisted on that point as Erza once again ignored him focusing on the dull pain that was running up her forearm.

"Is this some kind of spell? No, the impact was just so great that even blocked it still did damage." Erza frowned, it was apparent that if she took a direct hit without some sort of plated armor, she wouldn't be walking it off.

Then the natural course of action would be using weapons and magic that was long ranged. But before that... "Do you know a man named Jellal?" This time it was Erza who asked the odd question as Bas tilted his head.

"What the hell does jelly has to do with anything? I was asking about dragon slayers!"

Erza's eyes widened, she honestly wasn't expecting that kind of response from her enemy. Despite how dangerous he appeared to be it seemed that maybe he wasn't the brightest.

Right as Erza was about to requip a new armor the door leading to her room opened.

"E-Erza is everything alright!" A blue-haired woman opened the door as Erza froze. In the heat of battle, she had almost completely forgotten that both Levy, Cana, and Laki along were staying the night along with her and Evergreen.

Levy's eyes widened, she looked at the destroyed ceiling and busted walls of Erza's multiple rooms before her gaze shifted to Bas.

"Levy, get Cana and Laki and get out of here!" Erza shouted. It took Levy a moment to comprehend what was going on.

"D-don't you need help?"

"Just get out of here! This isn't an enemy you can fight!" Erza insisted as Bas looked over to Levy with almost a bored expression.

"Huh, another human..." Bas straightened his body before looking at Levy's left shoulder. "You seem to be apart of the guild. I would ask you where the dragon slayers are, but I doubt a piece of trash like you would know."

The moment Bas said those words Erza's eye twitched. Once again she instantly changed her armor a giant spear appearing in her hand. Without even hesitating she rammed the spear into her enemy pinning him to the wall.

"Eeek!" Levy covered her face as she was nearly blown away by the force of the attack.

However, once the dust settled Erza held her breath as Bas caught the tip of the weapon. The same weapon that was able to pierce straight through the CUBE was stopped with two hands.

"That attack had a pretty good impact, but it's all meaningless!" Bas grinned, his hands shaking as his feet dug into the ground. He then redirected the spear into the floor before jumping into the air, with a single stomp he shattered the giant lance into pieces.

Erza quickly let go of her weapon, weary of the damage the impact would cause to her body. Her eyes quickly wandered to the door to see that Levy had actually taken her advice before she was quickly kicked away, once again her armor nearly shattering upon impact.

"Enough of this, since it's clear you have no interest in talking I'll just kill you and move on to the next one!" Bas dashed towards his target as Erza once again changed armors, this time to a strange looking robe.

"Mere clothing? I'll break you!" Bas grinned running towards the red-head as Erza lifted her pole-arm. However, then something strange happened, the monster shifted his position running straight past Erza.

Erza was confused for a moment as she noticed one of Bas' head tendrils twitch. She looked down at her leg noticing something wrapped around it. He used his own body as a distraction.

Erza was expecting to be yanked from off the ground. However, instead, the monster used her weight to yank himself back towards her. The mage lifted the weapon thrusting it towards the monster.

Perhaps it was because of his short stature. But Bas ducked under the attack planting both of his feet against Erza's stomach. Then, like a frog, the monster kicked off of her sending her flying through multiple rooms and straight into the lobby of the Fairy Hills building.

"That should take care of her..." Bas dusted his feet off before scoffing. "No human should be able to survive a direct hit while I'm using a third of my strength, mage or otherwise," Bas smirked before looking over to Erza's room.

"I wonder if that other human is still th-" Bas cut himself off as he felt a sudden shift in the air. No, it was more than that, it was as if...

He quickly turned around to see a large mace. Before he could even react, the mace was smashed against his body causing him to be flung through the walls before being completely ejected from the building.

The monster face slid against the dirt leave a streak of uprooted grass as Erza quickly followed the destruction she had crafted.

"That was a close one if I hadn't been wearing Robe of Yuen I may have been killed." Erza held her stomach as she turned to her downed enemy wondering if he was still alive. "If you can still speak then tell me who you are!"

Bas lifted his arms lifting his body, a chilling chuckle escaping his lips before standing up. Despite taking a direct hit from Erza's mace while she was wearing her Purgatory armor the only thing that seemed to have been damaged was some of his clothes.

"Despite all that flash, your attacks are still too weak to cause any significant damage." Bas cracked his neck before looking up at the sky. "Did you send me out here so you could have more room for us to fight?"

Erza didn't reply as Bas' eyes narrowed.

"Or maybe...it was so those other useless humans could escape. If it's the latter, then I have bad news for you. Unfortunately for both of us, I didn't come here alone. Chances are one of those other humans in that building has been captured by now." Bas words created a knot in Erza's stomach.

"Damn it!" She was about to turn back and head into the building as Bas instantly appearing next to her. Seemingly being able to close the gap between them with sheer strength and speed. He then reeled his fist back knocking the mage away from the building.

"Sorry, but you don't get to change your mind so easily." Bas smiled as Erza skid against the ground, her armor barely keeping itself together.

"You clearly aren't human...are you a demon?" Erza asked standing back up as Bas smiled quickly vanished, a look of irritation slowly creeping on his face.

"Don't compare me to those dolls. I am a pure-blooded monster, not just any monster. I am from an elite species of monsters known as serpents!" Bas corrected Erza as she lifted her mace.

"... What do you want with Fairy Tail?"

"I couldn't care less about your guild, I'm just looking for dragon slayers to kill, and you're guild just happens to have a few in its ranks. Though, since you haven't told me where they are that information is pointless." Bas crossed his arms before sneering.

"If that's the case...I must defeat you before you have the chance to find them." Erza was about to attack the gray-skinned monster once again. However, Bas did not uncross his arms. Instead, he simply shook his head.

"You must realize what you are doing is pointless right? No matter who you are or where you're from, my power is a wall that no one can overcome. I've destroyed entire villages as a child and used demons as my playthings. A lowly human like you will never reach me!"

"Even if you are a so-called monster, you seem to have one thing in common with demons, and that's underestimating the human spirit."

Bas couldn't help but laugh at the mage's comment before he lowered his stance. "Let me assure. This is one battle no amount of spirit could prepare you for!"

* * *

"C-come on Cana wake up!" Levy violently shook her drunken friend. Somehow, despite all the destruction that was happening the card mage actually managed to sleep through it all.

After about a minute of Levy pulling on Cana's cheeks, the mage finally opened her eyes. "Levy...don't tell me I'm having one of those weird dreams again."

"I won't ask what kind of dreams you might be having, but you have to get up. We're under attack!" Levy insisted as Cana's eyes twitched. It seemed that was enough to snap the brown-haired mage out of her daze.

"W-what?!" Cana pulled the sheets off of her bed as another rumble was felt throughout the building. "Who is attacking us?"

"I don't know, but Erza's is fighting him right now. She told me to get you and Laki before heading to get help." Levy pointed out causing Cana to bite her thumb.

"You go find Laki. I'll contact the others," Cana stated grumbling to herself. It was times like these she wished her father wasn't out doing jobs among other things.

"How are you going to do that?" Levy asked causing Cana to pull out a strange looking card.

"With this, since we get attacked so much I handed out a few special cards and put them in different locations around the guild. With this, I should be able to contact them even this late."

"W-wow, I'm honestly surprised you planned that far ahead." Levy pointed out causing Cana to sigh.

"Yeah, but the problem is that I have to remain in this spot to call everyone..." Cana pointed out the obvious flaw in her magic causing Levy to wonder why she didn't just use a lacrima.

"Alright, once you're finished make sure you find Laki and me." Levy ran back out Cana's room before heading down the hall.

The fairy tail mage knew that Laki's room wasn't too far from Cana's. All she would have to do was turn the corner and...

Just when she did just that a nearby wall collapsed nearly knocking Levy down. She covered her face slightly trying her best to ignore the dirt as her vision finally refocused.

Levy's body tensed up when she saw the figure walking through the destroyed hole. It was far larger than the creature that was fighting Erza at the moment. To say it had wolf-like features would have been an understatement.

Levy was petrified the moment she laid eyes on the monster, but her fear only grew once she noticed what it was holding under its arms.

"L-Laki?" Levy stuttered noticing the monster carrying her friend like she was a barrel.

When Levy called out her friend's name, the wolf monster's ear twitched causing him to turn his attention at the blue haired mage. "Oh another one... well, they said I only needed one of them, and this one was so weak that I didn't even need to draw my swords." The monster let out a sigh before turning his attention to the ceiling completely ignoring Levy.

"I should see if the serpent is done." The monster said he before unsheathed one of the many swords around his waist. Then, in a single motion, he swiped it splitting open the roof.

He jumped through the newly created opening without even a second thought.

"W-wait!" Levy cried as the monster escaped her vision taking her friend along with him.

* * *

"I seem to have underestimated your ability to irritate me!" Bas growled as he slid against the ground as sparks of electricity escaped his body.

"That was a direct hit... yet." Erza eyes narrowed as she gripped the spear of the lightning empress armor. A part of her wondered just how powerful the creature before her was.

"For causing me so much trouble, I'll make sure your death will be painful." Bas' eyes darkened before he lowered his stance. His eyes widened before the tendrils that made up his hair started to wiggle and twitch.

Erza shifted her legs preparing for another attack. That was until she noticed saw red dots appearing on Bas' hair, or rather what appeared to be eyes. It was as if his head had seven snake heads attached to it.

At that moment the tendrils split open almost like they had mouths causing Bas to open his as well. Without any build up, a large wave of green flame was fired from Bas' and the snakes.

Erza's didn't even have time to move before being consumed by the large pillar of flame.

Bas' then wiped his mouth waiting for the dust to settle when it did Bas let out an irritated groan. "It seems those armors aren't just for show."

From the smoke and ashes stood Erza, seemingly unharmed from the attack. Not only that, but she had switched armors once again. This time to familiar orange and black suit.

It was the Flame Empress Armor, however just before she was about to attack she noticed something odd. Bits and pieces of her armors started to corrode as if acid had been poured on it.

"Surprised? That wasn't just fire I shot at you, but also a bit of my stomach acid. Though it seems that worthless paper you call armor stopped it from getting on your skin...what a shame." Bas smiled causing Erza to change armors once again.

This time the armor she picked was pitch black with wings stretching far beyond the length of her arms.

Before the battle could continue both, Erza and Bas noticed a figure standing on top of the Fairy Hills building causing them.

"Hey, serpent. I got one. We can go now!" The wolf-like figure screamed down from the top of the building as Erza body froze. Not at the silver-furred creature that was standing in front of the moon, but rather at what he was carrying.

"L-Laki?!" The scarlet-haired mage spoke her friend's name causing Bas to scoff.

"You can leave if you want, but I'm not finished here." Bas' comment was blunt.

"Fine, but I'm not bailing you out if you get in over your head." Velt slowly turned away causing Erza to open her armor's wings.

"Wait!" Erza attempted to fly after the wolf monster before she noticed something grabbing her leg. She looked down to see Bas gripping her foot.

"This is the second time you tried to ignore me. I didn't think a so-called S Class mage would be this sloppy, then again you humans rankings were always meaningless." Bas then pivoted his foot slamming Titania into the ground allowing Velt to escape with his target.

However, the moment Erza's body hit the dirt her armor changed once again. This time it was to something that could barely be described as armor.

It seemed closer to a dress that had swords floating around it than any armor that Bas had ever seen.

Bas' eyes narrowed as Erza jumped from off of the ground landing perfectly in front of her enemy. This time her eyes had an intensity to them that couldn't even be described.

"I don't have time for this. For the sake of my friends I'll have to defeat you here."

Bas looked at the knight, Erza expected him to simply laugh off her comment as so many foes did before. However this time she got a strange reaction, Bas' eyes started to twitch almost as if he was angry.

"Oh, treating me like some sort of side project? Fine then, I guess I'll try a little harder then!" Bas took a deep breath letting out a shout the strength of which shattered all the remaining windows in the Fairy Hill's building as well blowing off the leaves from the nearby trees.

Despite it being a simple action it was a clearly signified a shift in the battle.

"You should be happy, not many people get to see me use half of my strength!"

 **Author note**

 **I didn't know if I should have continued the Lamy, Reiny vs. Lucy and Juvia fight or switch to this. Though, I think I made the right decision to switch to this fight.**

 **Bas is kind of a fun character since he is clearly made to be a foil to Hud. In both strength and outlook on things. Despite is looks he is also a lot older than Hud. 150+ in fact, so it's a lot easier to connect him to characters from the older generation.**

 **Extra**

Bas: "Oh? One of Zeref's dolls... well I wasn't planning on doing so, but I guess I can take you apart!"

Kyouka: "W-what is a serpent doing here of all places?!"

* * *

Hades: "To think, I would run into the worst possible adversary."

Bas: Hades... age hasn't been kind to you at all. Though that doesn't matter, come at me with your lost magic and your devil's eye. Do whatever it takes! Because I'm about to show you how terrifying a city destroyer is!"

* * *

Bas: "What's this? A doll that thinks he is a king? Don't make me laugh!"

Mard Geer: "Even if you are a serpent I cannot allow you to say such a thing without punishment."

* * *

Bas: "Gahaha, that look suits you better doll, but don't get the wrong idea. I won't even have to transform to erase you."

Mard Geer tartaros: "Damn it all, if only you and those accursed dragons didn't exist!"

* * *

Bas: "How does it feel? To have all your years of training and fighting mean nothing to a creature that was simply born better."

Azuma: :Truthfully, I already know there is no way I can defeat you. However, I shall use this as the ultimate test of my skills."

* * *

Bas: "Oy, someone get this trash off the battlefield and let a real warrior face me!"

Zancrow: "Damn you... even if you are a so-called serpent don't you dare underestimate me!"


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

 **The Monster and The Dragon**

"Oh man, what a dark and creepy place... do you think someone will jump out and try to fight us?" Hud let out a goofy laugh as he and Frlea walked through the woods on the outskirts of Magnolia Town.

"Ah..." A frown slowly crept across Frlea face while he clung to his friend's shoulders. "Do you really think we should be looking here instead of in the city?"

"What? Of course!" Hud laughed. "You and me both met faeries before, they hate places where there are a lot of humans!" Hud pointed out causing his plant friend to cross his arms.

"That's the thing. I don't think we actually are supposed to be looking for faeries. We are supposed to be looking for Fairy Tail members!" Frlea pointed out causing Hud to cross his arms.

He did recall Seilah giving them those instructions... however. "A guild called Fairy Tail should have faeries in it, right? So if we find a fairy, we should find a member of their guild!" It was the sort of logic that Hud was famous for, despite the many holes in it Frlea didn't really have the urge to argue.

"Alright but once we are done wandering around, we should really head back to the town," Frlea spoke before properly jumping onto his friend's head. It's not like they were going to be traveling far after all.

The two monsters continued through the brush before Hud's nose twitched. He stopped in his tracks before turning his body ever so slightly. "Hmm, I think I smell something."

"Huh? What is it?" Frlea asked.

"I don't know... it smells kind of weird. Like a human, but something off about them." Hud was somewhat confused by it before he pushed past the trees before something appeared in front of the monster duo.

It was a house, a house that seemed to have barely seen any upkeep. Hud scratched his head before looking towards his plant friend who was doing the say they didn't expect to come across a building on the outskirts of town would be an understatement.

"Why would anyone make a house so close to town? Wouldn't it be easier just to make one in town?" Frlea asked. "Unless... do you think it belongs to a monster?"

"I don't think so, Velt told me the monsters in this country are kind of weak compared to the rest of the world. Plus it doesn't smell like monsters live here." Hud replied before leaving the bush and walking up to the building.

They both noticed a large sign in front of it. "Natsu and Happy... " Frlea read the words out loud before sighing, which was odd considering plants didn't have lungs to sigh.

"Gosh, do you think anyone's home?" Hud looked up at the building, due to how poorly it was maintained it was hard to tell if the lights were on or not.

"Who knows, but I think these plants are going to get in the way," Frlea said as he extended his arm to one of the many vines that had dug itself into the building. With a slight tug, as if he was pulling a string all the overgrown plants and leaves that littered the house fell right

"Wow, sometimes I forget you can do that sort of thing Frlea." Hud laughed causing the plant to grumble.

"That just means you should pay more attention to me. Now since we're here, we might as well take a look inside." The plant creature jumped on Hud's head once again as the monster slowly opened the door.

"Oh, it's completely dark in here..." Hud said his eyes traveling around the room. Even if it was pitch-black he was a monster, after all, he still would be able to see relatively well in the dark.

The same couldn't be said for Frlea however. "Blegh, Hud hurry up and find one of those lacrima things so we can turn on the light."

"... A what?" The genuine confusion in Hud's voice caused Frlea to groan.

"Hud, don't you remember? We hunted for them back in the deep city. Even Seilah and Lamy use them every once in a while."

Hud tilted his head closing his eyes. He did recall the two demons using orbs for some things around the guildhouse. Then again, when it came to things such as magic, curses or magical items the Hud had a bad habit of just zoning it out unless they had something to do with fighting.

"I guess I just forgot..." Hud stated bluntly causing Frlea to tug on his friend's hair.

"Don't say that so casually! You're the guild master, so you should remember that pointless demon and human stuff!" Frlea explained before groaning. "Anyway, most Lacrima look like orbs. Plus a lot of them can be activated even without the use of magic."

"Gosh Frlea, you sure did learn a lot about magic while I was gone. Did Ikaruga make you sit down and read a book?" Hud gave a goofy laugh causing Frlea to grumble.

"T-that's not what happened at all. It's just since a lot of our friends use magic and curses I just thought it would be a good idea for us to know a bit more about it." Frlea made a quick excuse while Hud looked for the Lacrima that the duo had assumed was in the room.

After a few minutes of rummaging, Hud finally managed to find an orb-like object. He felt the bottom noting the switching before he flipped it. At that moment a bright light shined throughout the room nearly blinding the duo.

Hud placed the orb down before looking around the room. "This place sure is messy." Hud took note of the piles of objects that were scattered about, most of which had no rhyme or reason.

"I don't think anyone is here, certainly not any faeries." Frlea pointed out jumping off of Hud before he started to examine the items laying around.

"Yeah and for some reason, it smells like cats..."Hud pointed out, his eyes glancing to the nearby wall. Despite how messy the other parts of the room was there was a specific area that seemed to have had special care put into it.

"Huh, isn't that the guild mark we are supposed to be looking for?" Hud pointed out, actually remembering one of the details that Seilah had told them. Frlea then quickly jumped onto a nearby chair examining the items that were scattered about.

"Hmm, what should we do? If one of the Fairy Tail members really do live here, then it wouldn't be a bad idea to just wait for them." Frlea pointed out causing Hud to groan.

"Yeah, but waiting is the worst. Everyone is probably having a bunch of fun fighting, and we're stuck here doing nothing." The tone of Hud's voice told Frlea that Hud wasn't taking the situation seriously.

"I... don't think everyone else is having fun." Frlea sighed before looking at the bed. "Why don't we wait for a few minutes, and if no one shows up we can head back in town and find the others." Frlea pointed out.

"Alright, maybe we can find something to eat here..." Hud pointed out casually lifting the bed. There was nothing but more trash and discarded items, certainly nothing that was edible.

The two of them continued to look through the small house finding nothing of note. However, despite all of that Frlea's eyes were starting to twitch the more he examined the building.

"T-this is just too messy. I can't stand it!" The plant creature cried as he lifted his vine-like arms wrapping a bunch of junk between his arms and pushing it into the corner.

Despite the attempt it really didn't help make the room look any better, nor did it make it any easier to navigate. Despite their best efforts there was nothing useful in the building.

"Forget it, let's just head back into town and find the others." Frlea simply gave up, if worse came to worse they could always come back to see if anyone was there.

"About time, I was getting pr-" Hud stopped himself before his eyes focused on the window. Without saying a word, the monster walked up to the window looking out of it. "Looks like someone is coming by... how exciting!" Hud laughed.

"W-what, someone's coming? If that's the case, we should hide so when they come in we can get the jump on them." Frlea said though the plant creature knew that Hud wasn't going to accept such a tactic.

"That'd be kind of gutless, besides it's way more fun to have a fair fight." Hud pointed out.

Frlea opened his mouth to reply but decided against. He knew better than anyone that once his friend had made up his mind. "Fine, but I'm going to stay here."

"What, are you scared you're going to get beat up or something?" The lack of sarcasm in Hud's voice made his comment all the worse.

"N-no, it's just... it would be pretty bad if I was caught in the crossfire." Frlea made another excuse causing Hud to laugh once again.

"I guess you're right, plus you're pretty terrible at fighting so you'd probably get in the way."

Frlea grumbled, once again his friend's bluntness was far too overbearing. "J-just hurry up and go outside while I cut off the light!" Frlea snapped causing Hud to shrug.

"Alright, but you are going to miss all the fun," Hud stated, instead of using the door like any normal person he opted to open the window and crawl out of it.

At that moment Frlea cut off the light lying in wait for their potential targets.

* * *

"Maybe we should have just spent the night at the Guildhall." Happy let out a yawn while he walked beside the dragon slayer.

"No way! I have to show Elfman that thing we found a few days ago!" The pink-haired dragon slayer said causing the exceed to sigh.

"By the time we get back, everyone will either be asleep or have left." Happy pointed out causing Natsu to groan slightly. Still, they were already heading back. It would have been a waste not to at least pick it up and go back to the Guildhall.

"Yeah, but then we will have it for to-" Natsu cut himself off as he started to sniff the air.

"Do you smell fish?" Happy's mind instantly went in the wrong direction before Natsu rubbed his chin.

"No, not that... I think someone passed by here." Natsu closed his eyes thinking. To say that he and Happy rarely got visitors was an understatement. And the few visitors they did get was always someone from the guild, thus a familiar scent. However, the scent that was in his nose was completely unfamiliar.

"Really? Do you think it's someone who wants an autograph?" Happy asked causing Natsu to cross his arms.

"I don't know anyone who would want an autograph after midnight, but I can't really see any other reason why someone would head to our house this late." There were plenty of holes in the duo's logic, but none they could see.

"Let's hurry up and meet them!" The blue Exceed cheered.

"Of course, maybe we can show it to that ice head and make him jealous." Natsu laughed to himself as the two ran towards their house. However, once they grew closer to their home, they felt something eerie.

There was indeed someone standing in front of their house. In fact, the person that was standing in front was actually waving to the two Fairy Tail mages almost like it wasn't strange at all for them to be standing outside of someone's house after midnight.

Natsu crossed his arms walking up to the unknown person. He had the appearance of someone around Natsu's age. He had short black hair that covered his red-eyes, not only that, but his outfit was...strange. Like something someone would wear if they were practicing martial arts. However, nothing could top the final oddity Natsu noticed.

The thing that got the dragon-slayer was the person smell. He didn't smell like a human. He didn't even smell like a demon. It was almost impossible for him to pinpoint what it was.

"Hey, I've been waiting for you two." The black-haired teen grinned, his friendly nature made Natsu relax if only a little.

"Are you here for an autograph!" Happy shouted causing the strange to tilt his head for a moment.

"Not really, I was actually looking for faeries." The red-eyed teen spoke bluntly, for some reason both Natsu and Happy could hear an audible groan coming from inside of their house but decided to ignore it for the time being.

"Well, there is no faeries here, but if you are looking for a Fairy Tail member you're speaking to one!" Natsu let out a boisterous laugh causing the red-eyed person to examine them ever so slightly.

He tilted his head before slumping his shoulders. "Eh? But you guys aren't Faeries, you're way too tall plus you don't have wings."

"I have wings!" Happy jumped up sprouting angel-like wings from his back. Once again it seemed that the exceed had completely missed the point. Natsu, on the other hand, seemed rather interested in something.

"So, what's up... and what are you?"

"Huh?" The red-eyed man's eyes widened causing Natsu to cross his arms.

"You don't smell like anything I've encountered before. Plus, if you aren't here for an autograph why are you here?"

The black-haired man simply crossed his arms. "Gee, I guess there is no reason to put it off any longer." The strange teen then lifted his arm and grinned. "Well, my name is Monster Hud, and I'm here to capture you."

Another mysterious groan came from the house as Natsu, and Happy just looked at the so-called monster in front of them. They didn't know if they should have laughed or just be confused by the bluntness of their apparent enemy's statement.

"You want to capture us?" Natsu eyes narrowed, "I can't even sense any magic from you. Besides, you do know we're apart of Fairy Tail right? The best guild in the entire world!"

Hud quickly nodded before noting the guild mark on the dragon slayer's arm. "Yep, that's why I'm here. I think I'm pretty close to making a breakthrough and I need someone strong to do it. So, sorry but I'm going to using you guys to do it." Hud smiled lowering his stance.

Natsu simply thought the person in front of him was joking, but he clearly was serious about wanting a fight. "Wait, you're serious... I don't even feel any magic coming from you." Natsu felt the need to point that out.

"That's fine. I don't need anything useless like that." Hud stretched preparing for a fight.

"Something useless like that... " Natsu's eye twitched for some reason, his enemy completely dismissing magic irritated him. "Fine then, if you are going to go around saying stuff like that you better have the muscle to back it up!" At that moment heat started to rise from the surrounding area causing Happy to let out a sigh.

Hud, on the other hand, continued to stare with a seemingly blank expression. Even as the heat from the flames grew, Hud didn't waver. In fact, the monster didn't even smile. He simply waited for the Dragon Slayer to attack.

"Don't blame me if you get hurt!" Natsu shouted rushing towards his so-called enemy. The dragon slayer was going to start simple after all. There was no need to go all out against someone who seemingly didn't use magic. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

At that moment a large burst of flame erupted from Natsu's hands. In a flash, he cleared the distance between him and Hud his fist mere inches away. However right before his attack landed it stopped, or rather something stopped the blow.

The entire ground shook as the flames coming from the Dragon Slayer's palms calmed. "T-the hell?" Natsu's eye twitched as Hud held his opponent's fist, the blank expression on the monster's face changed to a pout.

"Hey... that attack just now, you didn't put your all in it did you?" Hud grumbled before digging his fist into the grass. Natsu instantly knew what was coming next as he pulled his hand away from his enemy and moved his body.

Hud lifted his foot off the ground aiming to kick the Fairy Tail mage; however, flames erupted from Natsu's feet before they exploded in what seemed to be short burst of fire allowing the dragon slayer to avoid the blow.

Natsu skid backwards his eyes focused on the foe before him. "Who the hell are you?"

"Didn't I already say it? I'm Monster Hud!" Hud said before continuing his statement. "Though that doesn't really matter, you really need to start taking this fight seriously. I purposely held back my last attack since it was my first and you did the same." Hud pointed out.

Natsu's eyes narrowed, that wasn't much of an answer. Then again, it wasn't like the dragon slayer actually cared. Whoever the person in front of him was Natsu could figure out after he defeated him.

"Hehe, sorry about that. I was actually kind of worried about hurting you for a moment, but it looks like you're actually pretty tough." Natsu took a deep breath, flames leaving his mouth.

"Awesome, I want us both to go all out. I heard you Fairy Tail guys are strong, so I don't want you to hold back!" Hud laughed before his eyes narrowed. Once again he dug his feet into the ground; however this time he was the one that went on the offensive.

Hud quickly cleared the distance between him and the dragon slayer causing Natsu's hands to erupt in flames once again. The dragon slayer held his breath preparing for an impact, but just right when it seemed the monster was about to strike Hud flipped in the air quickly landing behind Natsu.

Natsu eye twitched before he quickly turned around. Despite the flip Hud managed to close the gap again barely giving the dragon slayer enough time to recover.

"Damn it!" Natsu could only twist his body slightly raising his fist. Without even calling the attack a torrent of flame erupted from Natsu's fist completely engulfing Hud as well as a large chunk of the forest.

"E-eyy Natsu don't do that!" Happy called out noticing half of the woods were set ablaze.

"Oh... Well, I think I got that guy, so it's fine." Natsu said, due to his opponent not having any magic it was hard to tell if he was still capable of fighting or not. After all, even an unconscious body gives off a smell.

"Well, when you put it that way." Happy said looking at the burning trees. "Though, we should probably do something about it before it spreads..."

Happy made a good point, but dragon slayers couldn't eat elements that were produced by them. "Maybe if I shoot more fire a-" Natsu stopped himself from saying something even more idiotic as he noticed a figure jumping from the burning forest.

His nose twitched, it didn't take a genius to know it was the monster he was fighting.

"Wow, talk about scary... I didn't expect an attack that size to come out so suddenly." Hud brushed off the fire from his clothing. "What's worse is my clothes got messed up again."

Natsu glared at Hud before letting out a smile. "Well, I guess I should be happy you made it out. If the fight ended like that'd be lame." Natsu didn't even wait for a reply before he rushed towards his opponent again.

"Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon Fist!" Natsu's fist was engulfed once again. He dashed towards his opponent before reeling back his fist preparing to throw a torrent of punches.

However the moment he threw the first two the attack was stopped. Or rather, Hud had grabbed his wrist completely stopping the attack.

"Um, no offense, but you don't have a lot of Martial arts training do you?" Hud asked blankly while Natsu struggled to escape his enemy's grasp. Despite not looking like much to the dragon slayer the monster was had quite a bit of physical strength.

"What are you talking about?" Natsu grumbled causing Hud to tilt his head.

"Well, fighting recklessly can sometimes help out against other unskilled guys. But turning your brain off and just punching isn't going to work against someone who doesn't always rely on brute strength." Hud smiled lifting Natsu up by his wrist slamming him into the ground hard enough to make a small hole.

It didn't even take a second for the ground to be set ablaze as Natsu jumped from the crater grumbling to himself. He honestly didn't expect his enemy to be still standing after so many exchanges.

"... Hehehe, Alright, I'm getting all fired up!" The moment Natsu said that flames erupted from his entire body. However, this time there was something else mixed in. Hud noticed small sparks of electricity flowing through the fire.

The rather laid-back expression Hud had been wearing up to that point turned rather stern.

"Alright, Lightning Fire Dragon Mode... there is no way Natsu can lose now." Happy cheered as Natsu took a deep breath.

In an instant left his position, Hud eyes widened before he was kicked in the stomach slide back ever so slightly.

"I guess that wasn't just for show..." Hud frowned as Natsu moved his body once again rushing towards his enemy. Both the dragon slayer's speed and power had increased, but...

Right when Natsu was about the punch his enemy, Hud lifted his arm blocking the attack. In an instant, Hud had adjusted his body strength and speed to match that of the dragon slayer's as the two exchanged blows.

The two warriors knees then collided forcing them both to jump back. All the while the flames of the forest started to spread more and more.

"You were talking about going all out from the start, but it looks like I'm not the one sandbagging here!" Natsu's expression intensified causing Hud to let out a goofy laugh and scratch the back of his head.

"Hehehe, sorry about that. I guess I am kind of a hypocrite for doing that." Hud just brushed the comment to the side before continuing. "You know, I'm still not satisfied, I want to be pushed to my absolute limit!"

It was at that moment that Natsu realized something... his opponent was still holding back. Still, it was too early for the dragon slayer to reveal his trump card. While Fire Dragon King Mode was stronger, it ate up far too much magic.

Natsu was prepared to strike again before he noticed Hud reeling back his fist. The distance was far too great for him to attempt lunge making the dragon slayer question the monster. Then without saying a word, Hud released a punch that seemingly had no target.

"What the hell ar-" At that moment Natsu felt his whole body get knocked off balance, almost like he had been punched in the face. The Dragon Slayer quickly recovered only for another invisible blow to hit his stomach.

The dragon slayer winced, while he recovered he noticed Hud reel back his leg. Without even thinking about it Natsu ducked despite his enemy being nowhere near him. At that moment he felt a breeze pass over his head, the dragon slayer then heard the sound of falling trees behind him.

He then slowly looked back to the burning forest only to noticed that a few trees had bee split in two. Natsu grumbled, he didn't feel any sort of magic from the previous attacks. "Don't tell me he's just that strong the impact is enough to travel through the air."

Hud slowly dropped his arms before rushing towards Natsu completely changing tactics. Natsu, on the other hand, took a deep breath his chest expanding ever so slightly. Then without warning, he shot a powerful blast of fire and electricity from his mouth.

Hud's eyes widened before using the impact of his fist narrowly avoiding the giant attack. However, the roar of destruction continued into the ground before exploding the force nearly knocking Hud to the ground.

"W-woah, I don't want to get hit by something like that!" Hud stated before he felt a shiver run down his spine. He turned to where the dragon slayer was standing only to notice he was gone.

"Lightning Fire Dragon's Firing Hammer!" Natsu shouted as Hud turned his attention to the sky. At that moment the dragon slayer descended from the sky like a comet coated in fire and lightning.

Hud eye twitched before he raised both of his arms. The two warriors then collided causing the ground beneath one another to shatter. Happy, who was watching the entire thing was nearly blown away by the force.

Once the dust had settled the dragon slayer, and the monster stood opposing one another in the newly created crater. Hud simply smiled tearing off his now damaged sleeves before lowering his stance.

Despite the force of the attack, Natsu's enemy didn't seem any worse for wear. "Damn it, what the hell is this guy made out of?"

"Sorry, but if you want to hurt me your attacks they will need a lot more force. Maybe you could try condensing them a bit? I'm just a single monster after all. You don't need to set a whole forest on fire to attack me!"

"Oy, stop giving me tips!" Natsu snapped causing Hud to laugh.

"Alright, besides I think that's enough talking for now." Hud closed his eyes preparing for another exchange.

 **Author Note**

 **Sorry, this chapter took so long. It was actually kind of hard to write battle scenes despite how much I enjoy them. As I said, a fight should have a push and a pull even if a battle is completely one-sided.**

 **Natsu also has a lot of modes and abilities I tend to forget. Though showing them off could be complicated, people also forget that Natsu can still use Fire Dragon King Mode even after he used up all of Igneel magic.**

 **Originally the odd smell that Hud smelled while in Natsu's room was supposed to be the fact he was a dragon slayer before I remembered that Natsu is at least partly a demon. So in that respect, it works both ways.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

 **Serpent Vs Dragon**

Bas slid back once again, his eye twitching. "You red dog, why won't you hurry up and die?" The monster growled. He continued to look at Erza as the knight shed another suit of armor.

"None of my attacks are doing any damage to him..." Erza's eyes narrowed, even when the hits were direct her enemy simply shrugged it off. At the rate the battle was going she would run out of energy before making any real progress.

"What? Are you thinking of a strategy? Or maybe you have realize just how impossible it is for a human to defeat someone like me."

Erza didn't respond preparing to requip another armor only to notice a shadow covering the moon. Titania then looked up to see a familiar face.

"Evergreen!" Erza called her friend's name causing Bas to turn his attention to the flying woman. He didn't have time to react before being pelted with beams of light, covering the field in dust.

"Erza, I'm here to help!" The brown-haired woman adjusted her glasses causing Erza's body so flinch.

"Evergreen, leave!" The red-headed knight shouted. "This isn't an enemy that you can face!"

Before the thunder legion member had a chance to even respond something had pierced her shoulder. The brown-haired woman eyes widened as a sharp pain ran through her body. "G-gah!" In an instant she was slammed into the ground causing Erza's eyes to widen.

"Evergreen!" The hatred in the red-head eyes gave Bas no pause. Rather it simple made the so called serpent monster laugh while his snake like hair wiggled.

"What? Trash shouldn't be on the battlefield anyway...here, let me show you why." Bas didn't even bother to face the downed enemy the serpents that made up his hair raised, opening their mouth. A light flame appeared in their maws, all aiming at the currently incapacitated Evergreen.

"Stop!" Erza lifted her blade rushing to her foe, but it was far too late to stop the attack. The serpent fired a burst of flame at Evergreen causing an explosion at the location.

Erza could only stand and watch the area where Evergreen once laid be a scorched crater.

"Ha, now do you understand just how impossible this battle is?" Bas chuckled before turning his complete attention back to Erza.

"If it is, why don't you show me..." A voice echoed through the night sky causing both Bas and Erza eyes to widened. The two combatants turned to see someone standing before them, someone holding Evergreen under his arm.

"Laxus," Erza smiled as the blond man looked over to the pale looking teen that was currently scanning him.

"I came here when I received Cana's message." Laxus tone was eerily calm while he continued to glare at Bas who was doing the same. It only took a few moments for Bas rather bored expression to slowly turn into a smile.

"That smell of yours...you're a dragon slayer aren't you?"

"Bastard..." That was the only thing Laxus bothered saying as he set the unconscious Evergreen to a nearby tree before the dragon slayer gave his enemy his undivided attention.

"So, are you two going to fight me together? It doesn't matter, a bunch of ants can't hope to defeat a lion," Bas laughed, perhaps only to inflate his own ego causing Laxus to scoff.

"I can take someone like you alone."

"Laxus, are you sure." Erza said, but the dragon slayer simply smiled.

"Don't worry about me, besides Laki was taken right? Someone needs to go after her," Laxus pointed out, causing Erza to realize it was a matter of pride more than logic.

After all their enemy had just attacked one of the Thunder Legions members, of course the Dragon Slayer would be pissed.

"Very well, I'll leave the rest to you then." With those words Erza requiped her flight armor before dashing off leaving Bas and Laxus alone.

"Oh? Well that's a shock, then again if you really are one of the dragon slayers that killed Acnologia it's to be expected."

"Who a-" Laxus instantly cut himself off before shaking his head. "No, I'll worry about that once I beat the shit out of you."

Bas simply lifted his head, not even bothering to respond to the threat. Another moment of silence fell on the scene, and then in an instant a bolt of lightning stuck the area where the serpent was once standing.

Laxus wasn't so shortsighted to think something like that was enough to take out an enemy that was managing to give Erza trouble. He quickly shifted his eyes before raising his arm.

Bas foot collided with the dragon slayer's arm causing Laxus arm to tremble. Despite it being a clean block he felt the bones in his arms starting to bend. "D-damn it." The dragon slayer quickly turned into lightening dashing back.

His hand was shacking from the impact. If he had kept his arm up for any longer every single bone in his arm would have been shattered.

"Do you really think something as slow as lightening can keep up with the mighty Bas?" The monster's eyes widened while he dashed towards the dragon slayer, or at least the bolt of lightening that represented him.

The moment Laxus returned to his regular form a follow up attack was sent his way forcing him to dodge once again.

"Ha, I hope you were stronger when you killed Acnologia!" Bas reeled back his fist preparing to smash it into Laxus.

The Lightening Dragon Slayer eye twitched. He didn't know how his enemy was keeping up with lightening of all things, but now wasn't really the time to be impressed. Lightening slowly enveloped Laxus' limbs as he matched Bas' fist with his own.

"Idiot, your arm will be blown off!" The serpent strained his arm preparing for the attack to be the decisive blow. However, the moment their fist clashed Bas' eyes twitched. "W-what the hell?"

Despite the fact their knuckles should have collided it seemed there was some sort of barrier in the way preventing them from making direct contact. "I'm not so stupid to try to match you like that, I want to keep my arms."

Laxus smirked was followed by something else. A bolt of lightening struck Bas once again forcing him to slide back. Despite taking a direct hit the serpent was still standing.

"Tsk, you're starting to get annoying." Bas dusted his arm off before letting out a sigh. "Regardless, it's all pointless. No matter how long you can last, your lightening will never hurt me!

Laxus grumbled holding his wrist. "I remember fighting a guy like you before, even if you are a short bastard you're tough. I'd like to try a few more things on you, but if the others are being attacked I don't have time to play around!" The blond dragon slayer crossed his arms, but instead of his usual yellow electricity a hint of red energy started to wrap around his body.

"What are you planning?" Bas thought about it for a moment before dismissing it. "It doesn't matter, nothing a mere human can do will effect a monster like me!" Bas dashed towards his enemy causing Laxus to smile.

Bas reeled back his fist, aiming for the dragon slayer's head. Only to be instantly blown back by, what could only be described as a burst of red lightening. Bas' eyes widened before he skidded to a halt, looking at his shoulder.

There was a small burn mark, something he hadn't expected. "Bastard...that wasn't normal electricity."

"Didn't you say something about being invincible?" Laxus clenched his fist causing Bas to growl.

The burn was already healing, but that wasn't the point. Even if it was only slight damage, a lowly human had harmed him. For that, he couldn't forgive, dragon slayer or not, that wasn't something Bas could let go.

"You know, at first I was just going to kill all the dragon slayers here, but because of that I'll slaughter everyone in this town!" Bas stomped his foot causing the earth to shake. "Not a single soul will be excused! I'll dispose of you just like I did with those towns as a child!"

In an instant Bas' speed increased dramatically. There was no more holding back, even if it wasn't necessary he would use all his power to erase the humiliation of being damaged.

"I didn't think I pissed him off that much," Laxus scoffed. Once again the dragon slayer turned into a bolt of lighting to avoid the attack. However the movement he landed he felt something against the side of his stomach.

At that moment the lightening dragon slayer was flung back. Once again turning into lightening, and once again he was knocked away. This time by a punch.

Laxus eye twitched, even if they were only two simple blows he knew they managed to crack some bones.

The dragon slayer shook his head, refocusing on his enemy. "Is he somehow predicting where I land? No, he's just beating me there every time!" Laxus once again turned into a bolt of lightening, however this time he had something prepared.

"If that's the case then..." Laxus fist crackled with red-lightening. The moment he stopped he raised his fist, punching Bas' straight in the gut.

Bas froze, almost shocked that he had once again been struck. He quickly shoved his serpent heads into the ground preventing himself from being flung into the air. Still, the attack was once again able to damage the serpent, something that was increasingly starting to irritate him.

"I'll kill you..." Bas' cold voice was only matched by his next actions. He quickly wrapped his serpent like hair around Laxus's limbs before opening his mouth. Fire and acid started to form his maw.

"Shit..."

In an instant Bas fired a point blank blast of acid fire straight at Laxus. The attack completely consumed Laxus' body, if it had been anyone else the serpent would have assumed they died. Yet for some reason...

"You seem to be quite the escape artist," Bas growled turning his head. "Slipping out at the last minute, I suppose turning your body into something as useless as lightening has its benefits..."

"Tsk, for a brat you can take a punch pretty well," Laxus' eyes wandered to Bas' stomach. The attack he had just landed had already started to heal, making him wonder what exactly he would have to do to cause serious damage.

"I don't know what that red-lightening is, but even you must realize that you going to have to put more into it if you want to hurt me..." Bas' laughed. "How sad, maybe if you just used physical attacks you might stand a chance. Serpents have a natural resistance to many major elements, fire, water, electricity. Even if you have something that could hurt me, you'd probably tire yourself far before I take any serious damage."

"What? Is that supposed to stop me?"

"Tsk, you don't get it," Bas smiled. "I barely ever train, what you see here is simply my natural abilities, so how does it feel? To be completely outmatched by a being that outranks you at a fundamental level!"

"That just makes me want to kick your ass even more," Laxus said.

"...Fine then, but you've angered me enough, so let me show you something amazing before you die!" The serpents that made of Bas' head started to wiggle unnaturally. Then, without warning, the serpents shoved their fangs into their own causing Laxus to freeze.

"The hell?"

A horrid smile crept onto the monster's face. His pupils completely vanished from his eyes as his limbs and body slowly started to grow and distort. His once human like form was morphed while his body grew larger than even the Fairy Hills building.

Laxus just looked up as the monster seemed to grow endlessly. Once the transformation was finished Laxus stood there completely froze.

The creature before him had a body similar to that of a snake, but with four limbs protruding out on each side. The serpents that once made up Bas' head grew to the size of pillars, in the center of the cluster of serpent heads was one that only could be assumed was Bas.

"Eh? What's with that look?" The creature bellowed. "What happened to all that bravado from earlier?"

"You freak..."

"Don't fear, once I kill you I'll slaughter the rest of the dragon slayers as well as your guild. From there I'll burn this city to the ground! I am a city destroyer after all!" The giant serpent laughed, "but before that..." One of Bas' many heads turned its attention to the Fairy Hill building.

"What the hell are you trying to do?"

"Nothing, I just wonder how many ants were left in that building...that's all!" Bas said before one of the heads opened its mouth, preparing to wipe the building off the map.

"Bastard!" Laxus didn't even hesitate, he quickly used his lightening magic to run up the side of the creature. "Roaring Thunder!"

The attack managed to force the head to shift, nearly missing the Fairy Hills building, scorching the nearby land. Despite hitting one of the heads, three more converged on Laxus' position.

Laxus was forced to the ground pinned by one Bas' many heads, he narrowly avoided being devoured by grabbing the monster's fangs forcing the mouth to stay open. "You won't escape this time! I'll make sure of it!" While one head pinned the dragon slayer to the grass three others appeared opening their maws.

"Shit, this things saliva is posnionus too..." Laxus' felt a burning sensation against his skin. "Though, I wonder if your insides are as tough as your skin!" Laxus took a deep breath, before letting out a terrifying roar right into one of serpents mouths.

The creatures eyes widened for a moment as the beam traveled through its body. The head twitched giving the dragon just enough time to slip out of its maw, backing away once more.

Even with a pointblank strike the head barely took any damage. Instead the creature simply blew a cloud of smoke, as if it swallowed an overcooked meatball. "Please tell me you got more tricks than that!" Bas' laughed before seven of his head aimed towards the sky. "I'll melt you!" The giant creature then shot a large stream of stomach acid into the sky, creating a makeshift acid rain.

"Do you think a cheap trick like that will work on me?" Laxus coated his body in electricity. Steam floated off of the dragon's slayer's skin, signifying that the acid was evaporating before it even reached him.

"Perhaps not, but this whole area will become a death land soon enough," Bas lifted his giant claw, digging into the ground. Bas prepared to lung at the dragon slayer, however the serpent stopped himself. He then looked around noticing the acid that was once hitting his skin had stopped.

"This is..." One of Bas' head shifted hitting what appeared to be some sort of invisible wall.

"You seemed to have been so focused on fighting me you didn't even noticed being trapped," Laxus scoffed while Bas' heads continued to sniff the barrier.

"It seemed that staying back for a moment actually helped," before Bas' eyes a green-haired man appeared before him. "I asked Bickslow to take care of the others while we finish up here," the green-haired man said.

"Thanks for that Freed," Laxus replied. "Now I don't have to worry about anyone else!"

Bas' heads started to knock themselves against the strange barrier that had been placed around him.

"Don't bother, sheer force alone won't be enough to break out of my Jutsu Shiki," Freed pointed out causing the large creature to sniff the barrier once again before smiling.

"This, I don't know how you humans got a hold of demon magic, but it makes no difference to me!" Bas laughed as the many serpent heads sunk their fangs in to the barrier. "You should know, us monsters are immune to all forms of curses as well as magic created from it!"

With one large bite Freed's barrier shattered as Bas consumed the pieces like they were glass. "This is like eating air to me!"

"T-that's..." Freed eyes widened.

"I guess I should have known better than to expect a freak like him to be stopped by that," Laxus' eyes narrowed while Bas took a step towards him and Freed.

"You must have realized it by now, but it doesn't matter how many bugs you bring. I'll crush all of you!"

 **Author note**

 **Sorry for vanishing like that. Was working on a lot of other projects along with my own personal problems.**

 **While writing this chapter I often forgot how many heads Bas was supposed to have. Was it nine including his main head, or eight? I mean it should be eight since that is the reference I was going for, but I kind of forgot! The design itself for his transformed state came from a serpent that is also kind of like a salamander. I wanted to make it reptile like, but completely different from dragons at the same time. Thus its lack of wings, and multiple limbs.**


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